


Rev It Up

by orphan_account



Category: MotoGP RPF, Motorcycling RPF, Motorsport RPF
Genre: Drug Addiction, F/F, F/M, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Multi, PWP
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-12
Updated: 2016-10-16
Packaged: 2018-08-14 16:24:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 35
Words: 64,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8020825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Heather earns an opportunity of a lifetime - a seat in MotoGP - will she make the best of it or fall flat on her face?





	1. Nerves

If there was ever a time in Heather’s life that she doubted she belonged somewhere, it was certainly now. She was sitting in a Rider’s Meeting. A **Moto-freaking-GP** Rider’s Meeting. Surrounded by the likes of Valentino Rossi, Dani Pedrosa, Marc Marquez, and directly to her left and watching her panic, with some amusement, Jorge Lorenzo.

“Relax, it’s just a rider’s meeting,” He whispered while patting her leg, an infuriating smirk on his lips the entire time he spoke. If she didn’t want to get in trouble for interrupting the meeting, she’d have smacked him, and she still was of a mind to do so after the fact.

It was crazy how it all began, the simulator that she saved up so much for, programmed to play the MotoGP games, and she began to race, and win, in tournaments across the world, until finally someone at Playmaker Agency noticed her and wondered if she could race on a real bike. And after a few races in CEV she had, before they jumped her to Moto3 and Moto2 with the same results. Now the big question – could she translate this computerized prowess to compete with the Pros?

No one had ever moved through the ranks as quickly as she had before, not even current Yamaha darling Maverick Viñales. There had been some talk about keeping her at one level long enough to earn a championship, but Jorge of all people had argued for her to get a chance in the hot seat, and thus why she was a Wildcard for Ducati at the season opener at Qatar.

She was nervous, there was no doubt about that, and Jorge seemed to pick up on that and teased her mercilessly at every opportunity. She couldn’t figure out if her agency ‘teammate’ thought of her as a friend, or just someone to pick on when the opportunity presented itself.

The other riders had mostly avoided her thus far, not really talking to her or including her in conversations, or trying to make any sort of effort to make her comfortable at this level. Not that she really expected them to. She wasn’t coming in with any sort of championship under her belt, just race wins, and those were all on much lighter bikes.

And even though she was strong – plenty of Cross Fit training before even traveling across the pond to compete in ‘real races’ ensured that – she wasn’t strong on the level of say someone like Jorge. And that worried her because these bikes were just so much bigger, so much heavier. She’d thought about approaching someone like Dani, to see how he did it, but that would be crossing over into enemy lines and she wasn’t sure of the protocol there.

Finally, mercifully, the rider’s meeting ended and Heather scurried to escape her seat, but not before giving Jorge a shove when he climbed to _his_ feet. And the punk still had the nerve to give her an amused look!


	2. Just Another Day

First practice, though not Heather’s first time around the track. She’d participated in pre-season testing and found trouble on a couple of the quick left-handers on the course, including one spectacular high-side that concussed her and ended her testing session early. Yet still, she was here to race. Casey Stoner, Ducati’s other test rider and her riding coach, had assured her that she’d do fine, but the killer instinct she’d had online was missing this first day.

She’d gone out in practice intentionally following her other Ducati teammate, Andrea Dovizioso, or Dovi, as everyone knew him as, and found that his late breaking style worked well for her in many of those tough corners. When they’d returned back in after their first runs around the track, she was smiling beneath her helmet, and parked her #77 bike for her team to work on it anew.

Talking or debriefing with the team was a bit harder for Heather than it was for her teammates – unlike them, she’d only started “racing” as a 22-year-old, whereas they’d been racing their entire lives. She was still coming to grips with racing terminology, and trying to explain from her head to her mouth what she was feeling on the bike. And to race technically savvy people at that!

All too soon one of Dovi’s crew members came over to let Heather’s team know that he was about to go back ready again so she did the ‘leathers waddle’ back over to her bike and climbed on, flipping the visor down and tugging off a tear-off. When they went out on the track, this time Dovi had Heather lead, and though that amped up her nerves a bit, she did her best to repeat the process that he’d done their previous run. She found that the more she continued to ride, the more relaxed she became on the bike – “Definitely a good sign,” Casey had told her when she’d mentioned as much to him in the garage.

Unbeknownst to Heather, her runs with her teammate had caught the attention of the MotoGP commentary duo and they’d spent much of the practice session thus far talking about the Ducati team. They spoke of the chance they were taking on her, and just how unprecedented her appearance on the track was and the trajectory her career was taking. She did notice the camera at one point when she was debriefing and smiled and waved, the pony tail of her long red hair bouncing in the background.

Eventually, the session ended, and Heather wandered out towards her ‘ready room’ – the room at the track where all her leathers and other equipment were set up, and her personal clothes were laid out. On the way there she fell into step with Dani Pedrosa and she wondered if he’d speak to her or ignore her, as so many of the other seemed to do. “You know you’re popular with the TV people.” He finally said and she simply raised an eyebrow at them. “They covered you most of practice. Pretty unusual for someone 18th on the charts.”

Giving him a snarky little smile, she retorted back, “I’m an anomaly, because of my anatomy. They’ll stop giving two fucks about me once I’m around more often.”

“Planning on wild-carding more often?” He asked, seemingly genuinely interested in the answer.

“I don’t know.” Heather answered honestly, eventually telling Dani, “They’ll run me when they feel like it. Probably not again until Mugello, I’d guess. I’ve got a lot of test time coming there and at Misano in my future.”

Looking around a little bit as they reached Dani’s designated room, he paused for a moment, licking his lips before telling her, “A little suggestion?” And off her head tilt, he continued, “You’re going into 1 too wide. It’s going to make you easy pickings for whoever starts behind you during the race.”

Shocked, and more than a bit surprised by the feedback from one of her peers it took Heather a moment to say, “Thank you.” And as Dani turned to enter his room she called out, “Dani?” When he turned back to face her she added, “Thanks for talking to me, period. A lot of people won’t.”

“A lot of people are jealous of the attention you’re getting. They’ll get over it.”

To that note, Heather sighed and continued on the rest of the way to her room, to relax and unwind before the later practice session.

~*~

After a second practice session that saw Heather move up to 15th, she headed back to her hotel room with the rest of her team and teammates, and ended up alone in her room for the first time really since she’d arrived at Qatar. Her room was between Dovi and Casey’s – with a connecting door to Casey’s room. Opening hers and knocking on his, she sighed when he didn’t respond and she went back to flop on her bed, staring up at the ceiling, still wearing the sponsor apparel her team contract mandated.

Some 30 odd minutes after she’d knocked, the other connecting door came open and Casey poked his head in, asking in a loud voice, “You decent?” Laughing, Heather told him she was and he wandered into her room, plopping down on the neighboring bed and gazing over at her curiously. “So what’s up? Something bothering you?”

“Just wondering if you had any suggestions for getting past this homesickness…that’s the one thing that I’ve not managed to get a handle on with this whirlwind of the last year.”

Giving her a sad smile, Casey told her, “I’m not sure you ever do, completely, not unless you find someone else to share the sport with you. When my now wife was traveling with me, homesickness wasn’t an issue. But I know someone like Nicky Hayden, who you’ve never met I don’t think, still travels with his parents or a sibling or his fiancée, and uses Facetime to talk to the remainder of his family back home. What’s ‘home’ like for you?”

With a wistful look on her face, Heather gazed up at the ceiling again, telling Casey, “I was born and raised in a small coastal town in Massachusetts…in the States. It’s why lobster is one of my favorite dishes – I grew up being able to have fresh-from-the-sea-that-day lobster on a regular basis.” But shaking her head, she went back to the heart of Casey’s question. “I’m the youngest of 3, the only one who still lived at home, in my parent’s basement. That’s where my simulator was.”

“That thing must have cost you a small fortune.”

“Oh, you’re damn right about that!” Heather exclaimed to the amused look on Casey’s face. “I was in law school when all this craziness started, but already working in a law office as an assistant. The money wasn’t great, but that I was on the road to being a lawyer was enough for them to finance the simulator for me. It’s paid off now, the Skull Riders endorsement deal assured that.”

“Do you go home between races to Massachusetts, or has Ducati asked you to move closer to the factory?”

“Neither, surprisingly enough. Playmaker, the agency that signed me off the international tournaments, has me living close to them in Barcelona. Which is fun, because I hardly speak any Spanish. I know stuff like ‘Dónde está el baño?’ and other important questions, but that’s about it.”

“You should see about pushing to moving to London or somewhere in that vicinity where at least you speak the language.” Casey suggested and Heather shrugged a bit. “What makes you hesitate there?”

“Longer plane flights to the factory and Italy in general. If I can find somewhere inexpensive to live in Switzerland, that might be an option, but right now, Barcelona it is. ¡Qué lástima!”

“Both Jorge and Dani live in Switzerland, you know, though in different parts. Jorge lives near the Italian border in Lugano, while Dani lives near the French border in Geneva. I bet you could talk to both of them about cheap options in their areas, the flights from either location would be quick to Bologna.”

“Dani, ironically, is one of the few out there besides you 3 that actually spoke to me. Offered me a suggestion for getting into 1 better as it were. Didn’t realize people offered advice over enemy lines like that.” Heather mused, and Casey shook his head a bit.

“He probably of anyone can commiserate the most with some of the bullshit talk you may or may not have overheard. Like that you’re not big enough, strong enough, to handle these bikes, that you don’t belong at this level. They’ve said all of that about him, especially when he struggles, but you don’t get 29 victories in MotoGP just by sheer luck. It takes skill, and he has it in spades. And if we’re right about you, then you do as well.” Heather had the grace to look up and blush at Casey at his words, but he shrugged her off, adding, “You’ve won at every level they put you in, after a few races to get up to speed. No one does that. They just don’t.”

“Well hopefully I won’t make a fool of myself on Sunday; I’m not sure I could handle all the criticism that would rain down on me if I did.”

“You’ll be fine. Just try not to worry about things so much.”

To that, Heather merely snorted.

~*~

The next morning, after a restless night’s sleep, Heather wandered down to the hotel’s restaurant, filling her plate with fruit and eggs before turning to look for somewhere to sit. She saw Jorge sitting at a table with members of his team as well as some other riders, but she didn’t even think about going there. The Repsol Honda team had a table together; as did the Movistar Yamaha team. Biting lightly on her lip, she spotted an empty table in the general vicinity of Jorge’s group and meandered in that direction, settling down alone.

“Hey Johnson, you know you don’t have to sit alone, right?” That was Jorge’s voice, raising above the general din of the restaurant, and she shot an embarrassed look in his direction. Laughing, he called out, “We don’t bite…well, Pol does based on the mark on his girlfriend’s neck, but other than that…”

Face still flushed, Heather went over and joined their table when the gathered men made room for her and gave them a shy and sheepish wave. “Hi. Morning guys.”

“For someone living in Spain, I’d have expected a more traditional Spanish breakfast,” Aleix, the elder Espargaro, teased, and Heather just shrugged a bit.

“I try to do what’s comfortable, not necessarily what’s expected of me,” She retorted quietly, and Aleix blushed a little bit, realizing he struck some sort of nerve in their female companion.

“You’d like a good Spanish breakfast.” Jorge told her in between bites of his, as he reached over to pat her on the knee again, earning himself another swat from her. “Must you always attack me? Here I am, being nice to you…”

“You’re a big tease to me is what you are!”

Eyes dancing, Jorge looked up at that and smirked that devious smirk Heather so loathed. “Guilty as charged. I can’t help it. You get so riled so easily…”

“Just be careful, Lorenzo...” Pol said, “She starts picking on you back and you’re in trouble.”

Rolling her eyes, she finally greeted the last rider at the table, the rookie Alex Rins, asking him teasingly, “Why do you put up with these guys?”

Heather didn’t fail to notice the blush that crept up Jorge’s neck at the question, or the matching blush on young Rins’ face. It took him a few moments before he answered, “They’re good company. And good to learn from.”

“I wouldn’t know. Some teammate gets all huffy when I follow him on the track.” Heather said as she reached over to elbow Jorge, getting a grumbly noise out of him when she achieved contact. “It’s not like I’m any threat to you big guys out there.”

“Not yet at least.” Jorge muttered before he rubbed the spot where Heather’s elbow had hit the mark. “My former teammate had this knack for following me around to increase his drag and increase his own times and now I’m wary of anyone trying to do the same.” He explained and she nodded.

“You and Valentino don’t get along well, do you?”

Pol barked out a laugh before anyone could even think of answering, and Aleix commented, “That would be the understatement of the year. I think if Jorge thought he could have gotten away with kicking Vale in the nuts at any point during their time together, he would have, without hesitation.”

“I thought about it.” Jorge muttered. “On many occasions. But I was a good little team soldier. And they still catered to him. So now I’m at a place where I’m being catered to, where bike designs will be done with me in mind.”

“I have a feeling I’ll be testing a lot of those designs.” Heather noted and Jorge looked at her and nodded.

“You’re going to be so familiar with Mugello and Misano that you ought to think about taking up residence there.”

“Speaking of that!” Heather exclaimed, so brightly that the others jumped a bit and she blushed. “Casey suggested I ask you about Lugano, if there’s any places there in my price range. I want to settle some place that speaks more English, and is a short flight to Bologna so…”

“What’s your budget?” Jorge asked, and before Heather could open her mouth to answer, Albert, their agent, shushed them both and leaned over and whispered a number in Jorge’s ear. “Hmm. I’ll have to think on that.”

With some sadness Heather noticed that the rest of the crew had finished their breakfasts, and so she tried to tell them as cheerfully as possible, “I guess I’ll see you guys out on the track.”

Most of the rest of the group exited at that point, with Albert staying behind and gazing at Heather quietly as she ate. “Why did you not tell me you weren’t comfortable in Barcelona?”

“I didn’t want to come across as ungrateful; You’ve already done so much for me…” She responded, looking down at her eggs and stirring them about her plate.

“If Lugano is where you want to be, we will find you a place in Lugano. This I promise you. Do not worry about it any longer. That’s what we’re here for.”

Managing a small smile at that, Heather stuffed the last of her eggs into her mouth and moved to rise, swallowing before telling Albert softly but simply, “Thanks.”

If only everything could go so easily, she mused!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dónde está el baño? = Where is the bathroom  
> ¡Qué lástima! = What a shame


	3. Crash into Me

Not having to be at the track until the evening for Practice 4 and Qualifying meant that Heather had entirely too much time to kill. She could have gone to the track and sat around watching her team tinker with her bike, or she could do what she’d done instead – scooted down to the workout facilities in the hotel and got to work putting her body through hell.

Her phone contained her CrossFit playlist and she started it up in the workout facilities, hopping on her feet and rocking back and forth to the beat of Default’s “Deny.” She’d modified her workout routine since she’d left the states, though she still hadn’t tried to get a trainer like Jorge’s Marc (or even seen if she could borrow him occasionally!). She’d seen [ video on MotoGP.com of Nicky Hayden](%E2%80%9D) and _his_ race weekend workout regimen and largely based hers on that.

When the song switched to “Never Too Late” by Three Days Grace, Heather bounced over to one of the elliptical machines and just kept at it until her legs were burning, her heart was racing, and she felt like she needed to gasp just to collect her breath. And that was only the beginning of her work out!

Heading over to the balancing ball, Heather grabbed a set of 10 kilo weights and kneeled on top of the ball, balancing carefully as she raised the weights up and down, focusing on her reflection in the mirror as the song switched in her ear to Linkin Park’s “What I’ve Done.” She never even realized she had company until she saw Dani appear in the mirror beside her, doing precisely the same exercise and she gave him a little nod before moving to put her weights down and pull out her earphones.

“Can I pick your brain?” Heather asked him and he raised an eyebrow but didn’t stop his exercise, just locked eyes with her in the mirror. “How is Geneva to live price wise? I want to move to Switzerland, to be closer to the factory, and Casey suggested I talk to you…”

“Living near Jorge in Lugano would probably be more advantageous to flying and such.” Dani told her as he kept his balance easily on the ball where she had struggled a bit. “But if you’ve got your heart set on Geneva, there are certainly studio apartments and such…”

“Would you be willing to plant that bug in Albert’s ear if you see him? Or maybe have Hector do it? They’re taking care of my living situation right now and I just want to be some place comfortable with a friendly face nearby.” Heather admitted softly.

Dani gave her a bit of a smile at that, asking, “I’m a friendly face?”

“I hope so.” Heather replied. “You’ve been kind to me when so many others are quick to throw me under the bus…and I could live near my teammate, but he takes entirely too much pleasure in picking on me so…”

“In his own strange little Lorenzo way, he likes you. He wouldn’t have fought for you to be racing tomorrow if he didn’t believe in you.”

“You knew about that?” Heather asked, surprised, as she shifted around on the balance ball and started doing sit ups, feeling the burn there almost immediately.

“I think everyone in the paddock heard about that one way or another. Either as rumor or as fact from asking around at Ducati. If I had to guess, he’s priming you to take over as his teammate when Dovi’s contract expires after the season.” Heather landed on her ass as she fell off the ball at Dani’s words and just stared at him for the longest time, the shorter rider eventually just shrugging at her. “That’s the rumor at least.”

“Jesus **Fucking** Christ.” Heather spat out, as she tried to gracefully climb back onto the ball to resume sit ups, mind drifting away briefly, before she inquired to Dani in a soft voice, “Do people know what’s on the line for me if I can manage a top 10 in this race?” Shaking his head, Dani jumped off from kneeling on his ball and started doing sit ups on his as well, gazing over at Heather as she stopped and stared at the ceiling for a long moment. “Can I trust you?”

“I wouldn’t be recommending flats near me to your agent if I had a vendetta against you, Heather so…use your own judgment there.”

Licking her lips quietly while still staring at the ceiling, but resuming her sit ups, Heather eventually told him softly, “Austin is on the line if I can get in the top 10.”

“Ahhhhh. Big deal for you, then, be the only American in the field, and a female at that. You’d be a huge news story again.”

Nodding and waiting until Dani finished his sit ups to follow him to his next machine – the exercise bike as it were – Heather climbed on a neighboring bike and continued the conversation. “It’s not just that, though that’s a big deal, I know. It’s that my family would be able to come and see me for the first time and see what it is I gave up my life back home for…see that I’m not crazy.” Shaking her head to take the attention off herself for once, she asked Dani, “Do you have any family that comes to races?”

“My parents travel to the close races, Spain, England, Italy…but my brother follows me everywhere.”

“Does he look like you?” Heather asked curiously.

Dani laughed hard at that and grinned over at Heather. “I guess you don’t follow me or him on Instagram or you’d know the answer to that. The ladies would tell you my brother looks like a greek god. He models. I don’t think he’s seeing anyone now if you’d like introduced…you’d intrigue him, as you do me.”

“I intrigue you? Why?”

“What was it you said yesterday? You’re an anomaly because of your anatomy. And you’re not exactly a lot taller than me, so you share the same issues I have. Yet you’re attractive, curvy in those leathers, and most certainly drawing a fair share of male fans just for that reason.”

Sighing, and jumping off the bike to grab for weights again – this time going for the 15 kilos – Heather began to work on her shoulders, not saying anything for the longest time and fighting the urge to put her headphone back in. Eventually though Dani was back beside her and bumping her shoulder silently, eyebrow raised in her direction. “I want them to like me because of what I do on the track, not because I’ve got a nice rack.”

Dani spat out the water he’d been drinking and just stared at her before busting out laughing. “You do have a way with words.” He finally managed to get out and all Heather could do was pull a finger off the weights to flip him the bird.

~*~

With both of her teammates comfortably in Qualifying 2, they were both in Heather’s garage, trying to offer tips on where she could improve time on the track to possibly get into Qualifying 1. As she had earlier in the day while talking to Dani, she fought the urge to put her music in to get in the zone – it wasn’t that she didn’t appreciate that Jorge and Dovi were trying so hard to help her, but instead of focusing on the bike, her mind was racing with their words, intermingling and dancing through, teasing her with their knowledge.

Eventually the Qualifying session started and Heather knew she had her work cut out for her – both KTM bikes of Pol Espargaro and Bradley Smith were in there with her, along with a lot of the usual names from seasons past. Still, she all but ran to her bike to get started, and moved to follow Pol out onto the track, knowing it would irritate him, but not caring, wanting to pick up his drag and gain that extra little bit of speed advantage if she could.

While they did their run, Hector Barbara decided to abort his run in front of them and didn’t quite clear off the track, leaving Heather flailing on the bike as it decided to twist and buck beneath her. In that next second, she knew she was flying through the air and off the bike, and she tried to remember everything Casey had told her about crashing and protecting herself, trying to relax her body and closing her eyes just before the impact made.

The last thing she felt was her airbag deploying and the blow sucking her breath completely out of her.

~*~

He’d taken the pole for the race – not especially unusual for him, but for one of the few times in recent memory, Jorge’s thoughts were anywhere but the track. Not after Heather had been taken off the track on a stretcher, then taken to a local hospital for more exams and scans. Not when that was the most recent news he had and these nosy fucking reporters were more interested in repeating was Valentino **fucking** Rossi’s words, questioning post-wreck if she really belonged on the bike, if she could really handle it.

Never a fan of his former teammate, Jorge was of a mind to punch him out and pay whatever fine DORNA saw fit for it. But he calmly handled the post-qualifying conference, answering questions that related to his pole, and declining to answer questions relating to Valentino’s quote or her condition, the latter because he honestly didn’t know.

Quickly enough, Jorge got out of the presser, the required photos taken, and ran into Albert, who grabbed Jorge by the arm and tugged him closer, whispering against his ear, “She appears to be fine. She had a rather crude comparison to how her chest felt, but she’s just bruised and battered, no breaks.”

“Where is she?” Jorge asked, probably surprising them both.

“Back in her hotel room. I don’t think she’d be offended if you and/or Dovi went in and checked on her.”

With as much haste as he could muster in his hire car, Jorge arrived back at the hotel and ran up the stairs to their floor, banging on her door when he reached it, until realizing she might be sleeping and knocking softer.

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” Heather called out from behind the door and it took a full 2 minutes before she opened the door, an ace bandage with ice packs wrapped around her chest, and bruises already appearing below her eyes. “Well hello there stranger. What can I do you for?”

“Just wanted to check on you…can I come in?” Jorge answered honestly, and Heather indicated he could go past, and he moved in to sit at her desk, turning the chair around so he could focus on her. “So how are you feeling? Honestly?”

“My boobs haven’t hurt this much since one of my ex-boyfriend decided to experiment with nipple clips.” Rubbing her hand across the ace bandage she looked Jorge dead in the eye and said, “Those mother fuckers **hurt**!”

Jorge just stared at her for a long moment before busting out laughing at her, so relieved to hear her normal sarcasticness coming through that all of his concerns went out of the window. He watched as she inched herself back onto the bed, wincing some as she settled down against the pillows. “Are you going to be able to race tomorrow?”

“I’ve been declared fit – nothing broken, just a shit ton of bruises. Bone bruises on my collarbone and ribs…so breathing is a bit of an effort, but I’m not going to miss my chance. Where did I qualify, anyways?”

“16th, believe it or not. Everything considering, you got a really fast lap in there before you scared the shit out of all of us.”

“Wow, better than I expected.” She took a deep breath then resettled on the pillows, obviously in pain but not willing to do anything other than barely acknowledge it. Gazing over intently at Jorge, she nearly knocked him over with a feather when she asked, “So, you and Rinsy, yeah?”

Eyes bulging out of his head, Jorge’s mouth dropped and he asked her, “How the…?”

“You both blushed when I addressed him this morning.” Heather answered before Jorge could even finish his thought. “And I wasn’t sure, but you just confirmed it, so thank you for that.” Jorge just gulped and stared at her, realizing that she could out him so easily with all the media likely to be turned her way again, and she eventually told him softly, “Relax. Besides the fact that you pick on me mercilessly, it’s obvious you’ve got a lot vested in me as a rider. I’m not going to fuck that up, and it’s not my place to out you anyways. It doesn’t bother me if you prefer dick to pussy or vice versa. All that matters is that you’re my teammate, and you can ride the wheels off your bike.”

Climbing from his chair, Jorge approached the bed and leaned over to kiss her forehead, whispering to Heather, “Thank you.” And when she just shrugged at him and then grimaced, he added, “I mean it. A lot of people would judge, or throw us or especially him as a rookie under the bus, and I appreciate that you’re just…shrugging it off.”

Yawning, Heather looked at Jorge with tired eyes and murmured, “Since I know you don’t have any interest in them anyways, would you be up for helping me get changed into night clothes?”

Jorge still had the presence of mind to blush profusely at the thought but nodded, asking softly, “How can I help?”

“I’ll unwrap the ace…if you could toss it and the ice bag into the sink…and then grab the Eeyore sleep shirt from the second set of drawers, I’d be forever in your debt.”

While Jorge did as she asked, Heather managed to strip down slowly, tossing her sponsor garb and undergarments onto the other bed, sitting up on the other bed completely nude. When Jorge turned around again, his eyes looked her up and down and he smirked a little bit, telling her, “I should have told you I, how do you say it, hit from both sides of the plate.”

Giving him a look that would have put him 6 feet under if looks could kill, Heather slowly raised her arms over her head and told him, “You touch, I’ll kick you in the nuts so hard you’ll never be able to have children.”

Laughing softly, but still appreciative that her wit was intact, Jorge approached the bed, carefully sliding the sleepshirt over her arms and letting her tug it down further. Again, he leaned forward and kissed her forehead, telling her, “I’m just glad you’re alright. You gave us all a helluva scare out there.”

“I’m just glad you didn’t get touchy-feely. You and Rinsy will make awfully cute babies.”

And for the first time since breakfast that morning, it was Jorge flipping Heather off as she managed a soft laugh as she shifted down and tried to get comfortable in her bed. “Goodnight, Lorenzo.”

“Goodnight, Johnson.” Jorge replied as he let himself out, shaking his head the entire while.


	4. Making the Grade

With Sunday morning came time that could have been spent working out, but Heather was so sore her movements looked more like she was shuffling than walking. When she went down to breakfast, Jorge’s table immediately opened up for her and she shot the boys a grateful smile, telling them, “Let me grab my food and then I’ll join you guys.”

Shaking his head, Pol rose to his feet and told her, “Sit. I’ll get you your fruit and eggs…unless you want something different?”

“That’s sweet of you, Pol…” Heather shot him a more spectacularly appreciative smile and he trotted off to get her food as she eased into the bench seating besides Jorge.

“He feels bad that he saw Barbara and feels like he was blocking your vision of him.” Aleix explained and Heather shook her head and just sighed a bit.

“No, that was just me not being quite strong enough to recover from something unexpected and paying for it dearly.” Glancing at Jorge, who’d remained oddly quiet thus far, so told him sadly, “I don’t think I’m going to earn my present.”

“You still can.” He answered her in a soft voice. “You’ll have pain killers for the race, and the important part for you will be getting up as far as you can while you still have the pain killers in your system. They **will** wear off, so you’ll probably lose positions at that point, but if you can get up into the top 10 before that…”

“You always do believe in me, don’t you?” Heather said affectionately, reaching up to muss Jorge’s hair as he lightly swatted her away. Out of the corner of her eye she watched Alex Rins watching the whole conversations closely, and when the other riders weren't looking, she gave him a quick wink, to which he blushed profusely.

“The entire team does.” Jorge replied. “And your growing legion of fans.”

Making a dismissive gesture, Heather said, “Who are only interested in my rack. Which is a rather remarkable black and blue, as it is…”

Before anyone could comment further, Pol trotted back with the plate and set it in front of Heather, asking her, “Do you need anything else? Something to drink?”

Shaking her head at him and indicating he should sit down, she told him, “I’m good Pol. And thank you. You really didn’t have to do this. You weren’t blocking my view, I just need to get stronger on these big bikes…”

“Well if you move to Lugano, we can always workout together…” Jorge told her, as Marc his trainer nodded his agreement.

Albert coughed at that and caught Heather’s eye before telling Jorge, “We’re actually looking in Geneva now…”

“Oh.” Jorge said very softly before he shrugged it off, a smile filling his face and his appearance otherwise taking on the demeanor of someone who wasn’t bothered. But Heather had seen that mask before and cringed a bit, hoping the others would just take that as part of her injuries.

Under her breath, Heather told Jorge, “We’ll talk more later. Maybe when we have to do our Skull Riders signing session.”

Nodding, Jorge didn’t otherwise acknowledge her words.

~*~

When they eventually arrived at the track and Jorge jumped on his scooter to bring Heather to their mutual signing, she told him softly, “It’s nothing personal to you, I want you to know that. I’ve just gotten really comfortable with Dani, he’s my size, and we work out well together.”

“I wish you’d told me first.” Jorge replied simply, and Heather leaned her forehead against the back of his head.

“I’m sorry,” She whispered. “Last thing I want to do is hurt you, you’ve been so good to me…”

Jorge remained silent for the rest of the ride, but helped Heather off the scooter when they reached the booth, eventually sitting down beside her in the booth and telling her softly, “It’s over and done with. Geneva will be good for you, working with Dani will help you, because he understands your situation better than I ever could. He just better not be trying to get down your pants…”

Heather choked on her drink at that and just stared at Jorge, murmuring at him, “Doesn’t he have a long term girlfriend? I don’t think he’s interested in me like that…”

“All the straight riders are interested in you like that.” Jorge retorted. “With the exception of Rossi, and that’s because he’s an asshole.”

Huffing a bit, Heather responded, “I’d never date that …” and she paused and smiled at the fans in front of her, not saying what was on her mind and just signing a few autographs for a few minutes. Eventually, Heather said under her breath, “That cocksucker.”

Jorge laughed softly at her description, repeating what others had often said before, “You’ve got a way with words, my friend.”

“You really think of me as your friend?” Heather quickly asked, a tinge of hope in her voice.

“Yes, of course you’re my friend. I believe in you, remember? And we’re going to make this work out there, and show those naysayers that they can suck a tit.”

Snorting, Heather told him, “As long as it’s not my tit they’re trying to suck.”

Cocking a grin in her direction, Jorge went back to autographs, but his left hand snuck under the table and squeezed Heather’s thigh.

~*~

With Heather again being declared Fit for the race, she’d taken as many pain killers as they’d allowed her and by the time the race was ready to begin her head was a little bit floaty, but mostly, she was well aware she was feeling no pain.

Jorge had already told her she needed to get as many spots as possible in these first couple of laps, and especially off the start – which was going to be difficult starting on the outside, but she was determined to do her best.

With her music in her ears she got into race mode, and wasn’t even aware of the floaty feeling anymore, just bouncing on her bike a bit as she waited for the grid to clear so they could start things up. Soon enough, the grid was clearing and Heather took off like she was shot from a cannon, getting up to 13th before they reached the first corner. 

She had to be aggressive – she knew it – and she took liberties against 12th and 11th to get her first sniff at the top 10. “I can do this.” She growled within the helmet, and she started chasing down 10th on the grid – Pol – taking advantage of the Ducati’s pure speed advantage at the start/finish line and getting him at the first corner, wondering briefly in the back of her head if he was letting her by because of the previous day.

Not worrying about that for long, Heather continued around the course, looking for an opportunity to get past Rins, knowing that even though Jorge wanted her within the top 10, he’d pout a bit in private about it coming at the advantage of his lover. Growling again, Heather made an aggressive pass, almost standing Rins up and he shook his fist at her on her way by, but she could do nothing but wave back at him, trying to seem somewhat apologetic.

Now she was where she needed to be, and now she needed to hold onto it. The painkillers certainly had their time limit, and Heather felt her eyes crossing a bit as she once again fought to get deep breaths down.

Pol had gotten past Rins, and took advantage of Heather to get past her again in one of the left-hand corners, and she just tucked in behind him, trying to concentrate on the blue and orange bike and not letting it out of her sight.

Hazarding a glance up at the big screen on her way by, she could see Jorge was in a fierce battle with Dani for the race lead, with Jorge holding on tight, but Dani aggressively charging. Focusing her attention back on her own battle, she saw an opportunity to get past Pol once more and took it, almost hearing him growling at her as she went by.

As the laps ticked down, Pol and Heather went back and forth trading 9th and 10th, a battle the commentators noticed and spoke on, impressed with Heather’s ability to keep up with the more experienced Pol, especially in light of her recent injuries.

All too soon, Jorge crossed the line first, starting his Ducati days with a bang, with Dani right behind them, and Marc Marquez bringing up third. Dovi finished 4th, the Yamaha twins in 5th and 6th, and Andrea Iannone in 7th. Aleix finished 8th, Pol 9th, and Heather managed her top 10. It was surreal for her and when she pulled her 77 bike back into her garage, her team was clapping for her, whistling and cheering.

She just leaned her helmet against the handlebars of her bike for the moment, too pained to even try and move and they moved her and the bike into the garage, eventually helping her off of the bike and into her seat. She did her level best not to cry from the pain and just took the accolades, forcing a smile onto her face and eventually whispering, “I should go congratulate Jorge.”

“He’ll understand.” Her crew chief told her and she nodded, exhaling hard and then turning her attention to the crew chief.

“Let’s get this debrief under way. I want to get back to bed.”

Her entire crew nodding their understanding, they surrounded her and got into their debrief, just focusing on getting it down so that their Warrior could get back to bed.


	5. Home Sweet Home

Tucked into her business class seat, an upgrade ‘lawyer-to-be-Heather’ never would have dreamed about spending the money for, Heather gazed out her window seat at the big ocean below. She’d left Barcelona with Playmaker firmly in charge of securing her a new place – they’d even offered to pack her clothes up from her existing apartment for her. Dani had even sent over a couple of furnished listings near him that Heather had dutifully forwarded on to Playmaker.

She was still sore, there was no doubt about that, but the painkillers they’d prescribed to her were proving to be magical. She’d taken one – on schedule – before the flight, and had dozed for a good portion of the early trip. Now they were on approach to Logan International Airport in Boston and Heather was more than ready to be home-home again, to have her parents pamper her, and to just not have to worry about being an internationally known MotoGP (test) rider.

All too soon they were preparing for descent, Heather using the time to put the second SIM card in her phone for the local AT&T service, leaving her Orange Mobile SIM in the other slot. Then it was a matter of making the switch on her phone, re-activating the AT&T SIM. All in all, pretty simple, but it was just remembering to do it!

Upon arrival, Heather walked slowly to the gate, still feeling a bit guilty that she’d asked her parents to pick her up, rather than taking an Uber or the T Commuter Rail. With her bright red Ducati backpack rolling behind her, Heather exited the secure area, spotting her parents immediately and having to resist the urge to run to them as she would have when she was a child.

Instead she moved carefully their way, putting the bag between them all as she let her father hug her first, wincing a bit at the tightness of the hug and mumbling to him, “Gentle, I’m pretty beat up.” Soon she was handed over to her mother for hugs and many kisses, leaving her blushing a bit, but grateful for the affection.

With her father taking the rolling bag, they set off towards the short-term parking lot, her father retrieving his Nissan and them heading on their way back to Beverly. It was about a half-hour drive on a good day, and her flight had arrived late enough (nearly 10pm) that the roads were fairly empty. Popping another pain killer, Heather dozed off in the backseat of the car, not waking again until they arrived home and her father asked, “Do you want me to bring your bag downstairs for you, or would you rather your mother just did up all your laundry first?”

“Laundry would be awesome.” Heather replied, shooting a grateful look at her mother, who just beamed at her in response. 

“We’re just glad you’re home, sweet girl. And that you’ll be home for a little bit.”

“Yep, home until we all go to Texas for my race there. My teammate had his energy drink sponsor secure a motorcoach for himself and for us, so we won’t have to stay in a hotel, we’ll just be able to stay at the track.”

“That’s convenient and nice of him.”

Smiling a little bit, Heather answered, “Jorge is a good guy. A brat, like having another big brother, but he’s a good guy. He’s got a lot vested in seeing me succeed; He was the one who pushed to have me run the race I did on Sunday.”

“Did you want to stay up and chit-chat, or did you need to go to bed and try and adjust your body clock?” Her father asked and Heather gave him a trace of a smile.

“Body clock beckons tonight. My body thinks it’s the middle of the night at the moment and I’m exhausted so, I’ll take a pass on talking tonight and go crash in my waterbed.” Heather told them as she headed towards her basement apartment, the long unused key in her hand to unlock and open up.

“Okay, we’ll see you when you wake up then. Love you sweet girl.” Her father told her and Heather turned her head to crack a smile his way.

“Love you two too.” She replied as she reached her door and unlocked it easily. Heading inside the apartment, she didn’t even bother to turn any lights on – just headed straight for the bedroom and crashed on the waterbed, making no motion to change out of her clothes or even take off her sneakers, body just desperate for sleep.

The last thought that exited her mind as sleep overcame her was that she hoped Playmaker found her a nice apartment with a waterbed near Dani.

~*~

“I don’t think she likes me.” Jorge looked up at Alex’s words, raising his eyebrows and it taking him a moment to realize his young lover was talking about his teammate.

“Why do you say that?” He inquired as he moved closer to Alex, flopping down on the couch of Alex’s Barcelona apartment and pulling his younger but taller boyfriend onto his lap.

“She seems to enjoy taking the piss out of me for one, and she stood me up on Sunday.” Alex complained softly as he nonetheless leaned into Jorge’s hands, letting the older man massage his scalp and otherwise soothe him with his touch.

It took Jorge another moment to realize Alex meant standing up on the bike rather than like in a romantic way and he almost chuckled to himself, but he knew Alex wouldn’t understand. Instead he just kept his light touch through the other’s hair and scalp, eventually answering softly, “I pick on her all the time and I like her, so I don’t think her picking on you is indicative of how she feels about you. Besides, she knows about the two of us, and she doesn’t care. I think standing you up was just her doing what she felt was necessary to get that top 10 she so desperately wanted. It wasn’t you personally, it was that you were a rider in front of her when she was trying to reach her goal…”

“Hmm.” Murmured Alex as he shifted a bit to cuddle closer to Jorge, telling him after a moment, “I love you, you know.”

This time Jorge did chuckle softly but repeated the sentiment, asking Alex, “Where did that come from. I mean it’s not like we don’t say it all the time to each other but still…”

“Just for me being silly and I guess jealous about Heather. You know she winked at me that meal that Pol got her breakfast? I couldn’t figure that out…”

“You were blushing again.” Jorge explained to him. “She clearly noticed and decided to tease you a little bit, acknowledge to you that she knew about us, this. You should talk to her; I think you’d get along with her well. Even though she isn’t running all the races she’s sorta a rookie too; You two could commiserate over that.”

“On racing with hugely high expectations and feeling like it’s impossible to achieve them? Yeah, she probably could understand that well. I swear if she doesn’t win by the time we reach Misano, the whole of MotoGP will be disappointed in her…at least the pressure on me isn’t _that_ high…”

“Speaking of her, I should WhatsApp her, make sure she got home safe.”

“Check the time difference first or she may want to kill you.” Alex reminded him softly and after a moment, Jorge realized that he would be indeed waking his teammate up if he sent her messages at this point.

“Hmm…so what to do with the wait?” Jorge asked rhetorically as he looked over at Alex with dark eyes and hauled him up closer, pulling him into a possessive kiss that had the younger moaning softly. “Oh yes, I think this will do just fine.”

Alex just closed his eyes and shifted to climb more properly on Jorge’s lap, losing himself into the kiss and everything else.

~*~

Time difference be damned, Heather’s internal alarm clock woke her up at 5:15 AM and she reluctantly climbed from bed, looking at her medication schedule and taking another pain killer before gazing thoughtfully at the floor. Taking a deep breath, she lowered herself to the floor and started her morning workout routine by doing sets of pushups, stopping when she reached 100. At that point, she switched to sit-ups, doing the same thing, crunching until she’d hit 100 done.

Sore by the exertion and the existing bruises and aches, Heather nonetheless looked at her simulator, eventually climbing on it and looking for a tournament to enter, finally finding one and crossing herself briefly before accepting her ‘handicap’ and starting at the back of the grid, knowing she’d only have 20 laps to get to the front.

The first lap saw Heather gain 8 positions, aggressive as usual and using Jorge’s Ducati horsepower to just blow past some of the other riders into the first corners. Briefly, she wondered what her teammate would think about her racing as him – she had to in a way, she wasn’t in the game yet, and she’d admired him long before he became her teammate.

Steadily, progressively, she picked off other riders, sometimes making smooth passes, other times doing what she’d done to Rins and standing the riders up so she could get past. By 5 laps in she was sitting in 3rd place and she set her sights on the leaders.

Feeling the burn against the inside of her legs where the bruises were still fresh, Heather fought her ‘bike’ to inch ever closer to the leaders, cutting down the gap until she was right on 2nd places’ ass. She’d seen the name before the ‘game’ had started and this rider was one she was well familiar with, one who would take great pride in beating her, so she did everything in her power to get past.

But her opponent wasn’t about to be passed easily and rode her right off the track, making Heather growl loudly at watching Jorge barrel roll through the gravel pit as his bike flew over him. “Sonofabitch!” She wanted to race again immediately, prove that she was the best that there was, but she could hear her mother moving around upstairs no doubt making breakfast. Heading up there instead, coming up behind the older woman and wrapping her arms around her in a tight hug, settling her chin on her shoulder. “Good morning Mom.”

“Morning darling, would you like your eggs and fruit this morning?” 

“Yes please.” Heather replied as she pulled back and settled in one of the chairs, shifting around a bit to try and find a comfortable spot. Eventually her plate was put in front of her and she dug in immediately, asking her mother between bites, “How’s Teddy doing?”

Her older brother, born with Down’s Syndrome, lived somewhat independently, sharing his apartment nearby with a friend/caretaker. He’d graduated high school at the same time as Heather had, fighting hard to get a regular diploma and not just a certificate. He held a job at a local fast food joint where he was much beloved and Heather was as proud of her middle brother as she was of their eldest brother, who was also in the law field.

“He’s doing great, he’s excited beyond anything that you’re home, and when his bosses heard you’d be racing in the states, they offered to give him time off to come with us. Do you think you could get passes for him, too?”

Furrowing her brow as she stuffed her face full of egg, Heather pulled her phone off her hip and found Jorge’s WhatsApp number, flinging over a message to him.

**Johnson:** Hey, do you think we can get me an extra pass for my brother? His bosses are giving him the time off work if he wants to go…

It took several moments, but eventually she got a response, just as she was finishing cleaning her plate and handing it off to her mother.

**Lorenzo:** Sure. What’s his name? I’ll work it out with Ducati for you.

**Johnson:** Teddy Johnson. You’ll like him I think.

Another several moments passed before Heather heard from Jorge again and she smiled and shook her head at how quickly he worked.

**Lorenzo:** All set. How you feeling?

**Johnson:** Would be better if I/you hadn’t gotten knocked ass over tea kettle off the simulator this morning. But so it goes. I’ll get that dickhead back if it’s the last thing I do!

**Lorenzo:** You race as me? I’m flattered.

**Johnson:** Um yep. Surprise? :D

Across the ocean, Jorge just chuckled at her message and left it at that, resuming his interactions with Alex while Heather turned her attention to her mother and told her, “Teddy is all set. Lemme rebook our flights so that he can travel with us no problem.”

“He’s going to be so excited.”

Heather just smiled. She liked making her brother excited.


	6. Teddy

With Teddy by her side as Heather walked to Ducati Hospitality in Austin, she kept glancing over at him to note that never-ending grin on his face. His first plane flight had gone spectacularly well, and Heather had even given up her normal window seat so her brother could oooh and aaah out the window at the sights below.

Inside hospitality, she found Jorge holding court with his team and she headed over that way, her teammate looking up at the last second and a clearly surprised look crossing his face before he smiled wide. Standing, he offered his hand out to Teddy and said to him, “You must be Heather’s brother.” If he was surprised when he got pulled into a friendly hug instead, he didn’t show it.

“I know all about you,” Teddy told the slightly older man and though Jorge briefly raised an eyebrow at Heather for that, Teddy continued on, telling him, “You’re the best. You won the first race, and came in 2nd in…in…”

“Argentina.” Heather filled in, while Teddy’s face fell a little bit.

“I should have remembered that.” Teddy told them all, but Jorge reached out to pat him on the arm.

“It’s okay Teddy, we race a lot of places, it’s hard even for me to remember them all!” With his team around him nodding, the grin went back on Teddy’s face and he started bouncing a bit.

“Is it time to get new clothes now, Heather? You promised…”

Before Heather could answer, Jorge glanced at his watch and told her, “Actually, it’s time for us to go to the pre-race press conference. Why don’t you come too, Teddy? You can watch from the seats.”

Heather bit her lip briefly at that, wondering if the excitable Teddy would be able to keep quiet for an entire presser, but she nonetheless agreed, threading her hand into Teddy’s and letting Jorge lead them to the media center where the press conference would be held. Teddy looked around with wide eyes once they entered the building and Heather’s eyes went wide as well when they landed on Nicky Hayden. Dragging her brother in that direction to his only minor protest, Heather waited until Nicky was no longer in conversation to offer him her free hand, telling him, “It’s an honor to meet and race against an American MotoGP Legend such as yourself.”

“Why thank you,” Nicky drawled at her, asking after a moment, “Who’s this handsome fella with you?”

“This is my brother Teddy. Needless to say this is his first press conference.”

Nicky threw back his head and laughed at that before murmuring at her, “Best to find him a seat now before the place fills up too much. C’mon, I’ll go with ya.”

And so the two Americans went looking for an aisle seat for Teddy, Heather leaning close and whispering against his ear, “You must be very quiet, ok? No chattering, no introducing yourself, nothing. You can’t even hum to yourself. If you don’t think you can manage that, I’ll ask Jorge’s press officer to take you back to Mom and Dad…”

“I’ll be good, I promise!” And though Heather had her doubts about that, she gave her brother a quick kiss then wandered back off with Nicky to the area where the other riders were gathering, waiting for the signal that the press conference was to start and that they were to take their seats.

All too soon they were in their collective seats, with Alex, Marc, Jorge, Dani, and Nicky up on the ‘stage’ with her. Watching her brother out of the corner of her eye, she waited as she was introduced, and tried to swallow a groan immediately when she could hear his whispered voice proclaiming that was his sister. Still she smiled, answering the question about her injuries by telling them, “I’m much better than I was. Having a water bed to sleep on and taking an ice bath just about every night since I got home has helped a ton.”

She was thanked, and then the questions started being directed at Jorge, though he and Dani were technically tied for the lead. Paying mostly attention to Jorge, Heather still watched her brother out of the corner of her eyes and when she saw security start to approach him she stood, surprising everyone and called out, “Get your hands off him!” Darting that way, and wrapping her arms around her now tearful brother, she growled wordlessly at his neighboring seat partner and grabbed Teddy’s chair, bringing it up with her to the stage and kneeling in front of him to silently comfort him, not even realizing the entire presser had essentially stopped to watch the scene. “Shoosh sweet boy, it’s ok, you’re ok, no one is going to hurt you, not so long as I’m around.” Glancing over at her fellow riders, she asked softly, “Any of you got tissues or a hankie or something?”

Marc answered softly, “I do,” and pulled a hankie from his pocket, passing it down the line until Heather was patting at Teddy’s eyes.

Drying them off and then holding it to his nose, Heather told her big brother quietly, “Blow.” As soon as he did – and the room tittered a bit at the noise – Heather glanced down the line at Marc and told him, “I’ll wash it before getting it back to you.”

And once Teddy finally seemed a bit more settled, Heather flopped back in her chair again, while the question that had been asked of Jorge was repeated and he started answering again, though he like most of the other riders kept their eyes on Heather and Teddy. “I didn’t mean to cause trouble.” Teddy whispered to Heather and she patted his knee.

Telling him softly, “I know sweet boy, I know. It’s okay now.”

“A question for Heather.” And surprised, Heather glanced up, gazing at the reporter in question and waited for his question. “Do you feel like your…brother…? makes you a stronger person?”

“Teddy, c’mere.” Heather instructed softly, and shifting so her brother could reach the mic, Heather told the reporter, “Ask him that.”

And so the reporter dutifully repeated the question to Teddy and he smiled and answered more articulately then certainly any of them had been expecting besides Heather, “I think I do make her stronger. I got picked on a lot at school and she was my defender, my protector. She still is. She’s always looking out for my best interests.”

“And Heather, your thoughts?”

Heather shrugged initially, saying simply, “He’s my brother. Of course I love him and am going to look after him. Just like Marc looks after Alex, or Jorge, Laura. It doesn’t matter that he’s older than me. He graduated high school just like anyone else, holds down a job, has his own apartment…”

And swiping the microphone away, Teddy says, “Yeah, and Heather doesn’t even have her own apartment, she still lives with Mom and Dad!” And while the crowd tittered again, and Heather face palmed, Teddy added, “Mom does her laundry! I do my own!”

“Heather?”

Grinning but doing so with a very sheepish blush, Heather admitted, “True, all of it, at least when I’m home in the states. My agents take care of my living arrangements outside of the States.”

And the questions continued, mostly to the other riders, and Heather settled her hand on Teddy’s thigh, letting their hands lace together, not realizing one photographer could see that clearly and took the shot, one that would accompany many articles about the siblings in the next day.

~*~

After dropping Teddy off with her parents – to his protests – and handing the hanky over to her mother to wash – Heather headed off to the souvenir stands, going straight to the Ducati merchandise to pick up a little of everything for her parents and brother to wear for the remainder of the weekend. With her headphones in – and Linkin Park’s “Leave Out All the Rest” pumping through – she didn’t even realize the merchandiser was addressing her eventually until she pulled a headphone out, and was smiled at.

“Do you think you can sign a few of your shirts so we can sell them for a bit extra?”

And so Heather unquestioningly obliged, signing the stack, and then signing a few more autographs when some fans noticed her there. Escaping before the crowd got too big, especially without Artur to protect her, Heather ducked over to Skull Riders and signed a few sunnies cases, again escaping before she had to sign autographs for fans.

Heading onward to Clinica Mobila, Heather went in and talked to their Doctor, letting him examine her and note that her chest was still many shades of purples, browns, and yellows. With that thought in their minds, they refilled her painkiller subscription, and still declared her FIT to race for the weekend.

Eventually, Heather went back to her home away from home for the weekend, distributing out the clothes to her parents and putting Teddy’s aside since he was napping from the excitement of the day. After a brief conversation with her parents – and their decision to cook dinner for them all – Heather WhatsApp’d Jorge, looking for a ride around the track on his scooter.

**Johnson:** Busy? I’m looking to get a tour of the track.

It took a few minutes – not surprising Heather in the least with Alex no doubt in the coach with him – but Jorge did respond.

**Lorenzo:** Sure...just you?

**Johnson:** Yep, just me. I’ll bring my helmet. I need to get a bicycle to bring to the tracks so I can get more exercise. The one disadvantage of not staying in a hotel – no workout facilities!

**Lorenzo:** I’ll talk to Albert about the bike situation. In the meanwhile, meet me at my scooter in about 10. I need to clean up.

**Johnson:** TMI!

**Lorenzo:** Say what?

**Johnson:** Too much information!!!

**Lorenzo:** You have a filthy mind, Johnson.

Laughing at that, Heather grabbed her helmet and headed out to the designated spot, waiting for Jorge to appear from whatever it was he needed cleaning up from.


	7. Océane & Eric

Austin had been a good weekend for Heather, though not as good as she hoped. Dining with Dani and his girlfriend Yvette in Geneva now that her housing situation was settled, she grumbled softly to them, “One more spot. Just one, and I would have reached my goal. And maybe then I’d get to run again before Mugello. Instead I’m going to be testing bitch for the foreseeable future…” 

“I think most of the racing world, or at least the MotoGP bunch were pretty impressed with your 6th, hon. Especially starting 13th on the grid and not getting the best of starts.” Dani told her and Yvette nodded beside him, offering her own opinion.

“Everything you do at this point is amazing. And it’s turning MotoGP on its ear. And yeah, maybe some of the women are jealous that you’re out there with our men, cutting and dicing around, but most of us are just in awe.”

Blushing slightly, Heather reached across to rest her hand briefly on Yvette’s, thanking her softly before bringing her hands back to her lap. As she did so, their waitress, Océane, came back to the table and gave them all a brilliant smile that had Heather looking her up and down in interest. She took their orders and Heather watched her as she left, not failing to notice the way her ass swung side to side.

“You’re staring, and possibly drooling,” Dani teased softly, and moving her hand just slightly she flicked him the bird, leaving both him and Yvette laughing at her.

“She’s beautiful.” Heather murmured. “I wonder what team she plays for?”

“Keep flirting and you’ll no doubt find out…” Yvette advised with a grin and Heather winked over at her.

“Flirting I can do!” And at her words she adjusted the way she was seated, spreading her legs a bit more and otherwise just opening up her posture.

Soon enough, Océane came back with their drinks, and Heather made sure their fingers brushed against each other when she was given her water, and though Océane gave her a slightly questioning glance, Heather just responded with one of her most dazzling smiles. And internally she grinned even more when Océane gave her a shy smile in return. “Are you ready to order?”

They collectively agreed that they were and placed their orders and Heather purposefully let their hands brush against each other when Océane collected the menus, earning her another shy smile, but brightening eyes. When she walked away – ass still swinging – Heather cut her eyes towards Yvette. “Definitely playing for the home team.” Yvette assessed and Heather just threw her head back and laughed.

“And here I was thinking about setting you up with my brother…I guess that would have backfired…” Dani said and Heather gave him a small grin.

“Not necessarily. I’m not picky when it comes to love. Whoever happens to capture my attention is fair game. Now if nothing comes of my flirtations here, go ahead and introduce your brother.” Heather winked at Dani when he blushed a little bit then shared the grin with Yvette.

A bit later when Océane came back with their meals it was her this time definitely making the extended touch with Heather and Heather looked her in the eyes to thank her, finding beautiful blue eyes sparkling at her in return. This time she lingered around the table for a moment, asking if there was anything they collectively needed, and Heather asked for a refill of water, once more watching the shaking ass disappear from view.

Licking her lips slightly, Heather glanced at a giggling Yvette and told her, “I think your assessment is dead on. I’m going to have some fun with this one, I can see it now…”

“So much for us giving you a tour of Geneva…” Dani teased.

“Oh I’ll get a tour.” Heather said straight faced. “But of her mouth, maybe some other parts as well…”

“Too much information!” Dani proclaimed and Heather just laughed.

One way or another she was going to get to know Océane better.

~*~

Paying as they left the restaurant, Heather had handed Océane the money then leaned closer to her so that her warm breath slipped past her ear. “My number is on the receipt. Call me sometime if you’d like to go out. I’d love to show you a good time.”

Leaving the restaurant though, Heather addressed Dani about her bicycle situation and Dani grinned at her, murmuring, “I told you I was going to introduce you to my brother; he’s in town to help with your bike. He used to ride as an amateur; he won some races, too.”

“Oooh fancy. So I get expert advice, I like it.”

Yvette pipped up, “And if it doesn’t work with Océane….”

Heather just laughed at that, having a pretty good sense she’d be getting a phone call during the other’s break or when she got off her shift, but perfectly willing to meet the younger Pedrosa anyways. When they arrived back at Dani’s house, it was Eric who greeted them, and the sight of this muscle-bound God in person temporarily took her breath away. Summoning Yvette closer, she whispered against her ear, “DAMN, I wish I’d met him first…”

Yvette patted her on the arm and then went into the small kitchen to prepare them all coffee, while Eric chattered at his brother while Heather took the opportunity to check him out, not even realizing he was doing the same. Eventually, Eric turned his full attention to Heather and told her, “We’ll go to the local bike shop, pick you out a bike, and a kit to ride in. Be prepared to spend some money, a good bike won’t come cheap.”

Heather shrugged at that, telling him, “These days I have more money than I know what to do with. I thought about buying a car for when I’m home in the States, but I’m barely ever there, so what’s the point? My parents’ house was already paid off long before my windfall so…” And Heather shrugged again, giving Eric a bit of a shy smile.

With Eric in the lead, they headed to Bike Switzerland, a local Trek and Bontrager dealer, and Heather promptly spent more euros than she could recall in quite some time. But she left with a new bike, helmet, shoes, socks, and a riding kit. She’d tried on (and modeled) the kit before buying it, and could feel Eric’s eyes burning into her as she did so. She knew she was curvy, but never had she had someone as attractive as Eric looking at her as he was. She was almost hoping Océane **didn’t** call, so she could get to know the younger Pedrosa better!

But about the time they were readying the bikes to take a journey throughout Geneva, Heather’s cell phone rang and though she didn’t recognize the number, she answered with a “Hello? This is Heather…”

“Hello Heather, this is Océane…from the restaurant?”

“Oh hello Océane…how are you? What are you up to?” Heather asked as she leaned against her bike and just grinned.

“I am currently heading home to feed my cat…then I will be free. Maybe we could get together?” Océane inquired and Heather just grinned wider.

“I’m about to go on a bike ride with Dani, the gentleman I was with, and his brother, Eric. If you’d like to get together after that, maybe go see a movie, I’d be totally down with that.” Heather replied as she noticed Eric watching her out of the corner of her eyes.

“Oh yes, I’d like that a lot. Do give me a call when you are done, and I shall see you then.”

Smiling even more if possible, Heather responded. “Okay Océane, I will see you soon. Don’t miss me too much while I’m gone.” A giggle greeted her as a response and Heather knew she had her prey hook, line, and sinker.

When they hung up, both Pedrosa brothers were staring at her and she told them simply, “I now have a date after we go ride. So let’s get on it.”

Eric hesitated for a moment but he waited until Heather climbed on her bike and then began to lead them on a grueling ride, purposefully putting Heather through the motions to see how much she could take.

But Heather stayed with them every step of the way, and Eric’s respect for her only ratcheted up.

~*~

Having showered and changed, Heather took the bus to the address Océane gave her and smiled when the other woman opened the door, taking the initiative to lean in and give her a soft kiss on the lips before pulling back, murmuring at her, “Good to see you. Are you ready for our movie?”

Océane blushed and nodded, and accepted her hand when Heather reached to grab it, leading them out onto the street to walk together and head to the theater. She knew the movie would be in French but she didn’t care, she just wanted to watch Océane and spend time with her, to get to know her better (in more ways than one).

Cheating her diet, they bought a popcorn and soda to share and found seats in the back of the theater, Heather smiling when Océane leaned her head on Heather’s shoulder. Turning her head, she bused her lips against Océane’s forehead and heard the other woman purr. Heather smiled even more when Océane raised her head off her shoulder and turned to face her, leaning in to give her a soft kiss, one that quickly turned into something more, with mouth and teeth and tongue and Heather’s hand coming around to hold Océane in close.

“Maybe we should skip the movie and go back to my place?” Océane asked.

Chuckling a little bit, Heather told her, “Can’t let this popcorn go to waste, so we’re here until at least that is gone, but then I’m all yours…” And without saying it with words, her eyes told Océane that she was all Heather’s.

Shivering a little bit by the look in her eyes, Océane eventually just smiled, leaning in to give Heather another kiss.

Heather was definitely ready for whatever the night threw at her!


	8. What You Don't Know

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ratings change. FYI.

Tying her shoes after putting on her workout gear, Heather was surprised when her doorbell rang, it being particularly early in the morning for one and she wasn’t expecting anyone for another. But moving over to the door with one shoe still in her hand she opened it, surprised to find Océane on the other side.

“Hi,” Océane said as she breezed into the apartment, turning to face Heather with a wide smile on her face. “I took off work so we could spend time together.”

Grimacing immediately, Heather told her, “I can’t. I’ve already got plans – I work out with Dani every morning so we can be better prepared for upcoming races.”

“Surely you can skip that for me?” Océane questioned, an almost pout on her lips.

“I’m sorry,” Heather said regretfully, “I can’t. I need to keep my physical condition up so that I’m ready for my upcoming testing and then the next race. Maybe you can head in to work and we can catch up afterwards?”

Océane looked shocked at the prospect but she quickly recovered and said, “Ok. I shall go into work then. And then when we’re both done, we shall spend time together.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Heather said happily as she leaned closer to Océane to give her a kiss, a languid kiss that found Heather dropping her extra shoe and tucking her hands in the pockets of Océane’s jeans, pulling their bodies closer before finally breaking the kiss to catch her breath, leaning her forehead against Océane’s.

“You could still change your mind.” Océane said coyly.

“I can’t.” Heather repeated as she slowly pulled back from Océane. “But we will see each other again soon, and perhaps I can make you scream again…” Heather wiggled her eyebrows in Océane’s direction, biting back a chuckle when the other immediately blushed a bright red. “See? Something to look forward to…”

Nodding, Océane moved to head to the door, glancing over her shoulder as she reached it, to blow Heather a kiss, promising her, “I shall see you soon.”

As Heather watched her exit and close the door behind her, she could only shake her head at the entire timing of things. But she knew, deep in her heart, that the work out was more important than anything else, especially for the sake of her career.

~*~

Kneeling on the balance ball and tossing the medicine ball back and forth to both Dani and surprisingly Eric as well, Heather murmured at them, “I’m still not sure I made the right decision coming here instead of spending more time with Océane. I mean she took off work for me…”

“Yes, but you didn’t ask her to take off work, she just assumed that you’d be available. That’s a bit presumptuous.” Eric replied as he tossed the ball her way.

“I promised her a repeat of last night; that seemed to appease her.” Heather said with wiggling eyebrows as Dani brought the ball up to his face and just groaned.

“Too much information. Waaaaaaaaay too much information.” Dani chided her and Heather just laughed at him.

“I’m not sure what else we’ll do when she shows up. I haven’t figured out what her interests are beyond me…”

“Just so long as she’s interested in you as a person and not you as a bank account.” Eric spoke quietly and Heather just gazed at him, eventually offering a reply.

“You don’t even know her and you say that?” Heather questioned.

“Do you know her beyond how to get her off?” Eric retorted as Heather had the decency to blush. “I mean you said yourself you don’t even know what her interests are. Just be careful…” Heather stared at Eric for a long time and then just threw the medicine ball hard back at him before shifting to do sit-ups on the ball, not talking to either Pedrosa while doing so. “Look. I’m sorry. I’m not trying to hurt you. If anything, I’m trying to protect you. I don’t want to see you getting hurt in the end…”

“I’m a big girl, I can handle whatever happens. And right now I’m enjoying myself.” Heather muttered, still focusing on her sit-ups and not otherwise paying any mind to the Pedrosa brothers.

Sighing, Eric just looked at his brother and shook his head. Something about the whole situation made him uncomfortable, and he obviously wasn’t allowed to voice it, so he was going to have to find a better way to show his support to Heather.

Could he manage that? He wasn’t sure.

~*~

Arriving back at her apartment and taking a shower, Heather was just wrapping herself in a towel when the doorbell rang, and she went to answer the door, assuming correctly it was Océane. And it was indeed, the latter wearing a short skirt and tight little top, everything emphasized and on show for Heather. Looking her up and down, Heather growled and almost took her right there but instead she leaned in and kissed her with passion, whispering against her lips, “Let me get dressed, then we’ll go out to eat…”

Océane nodded and settled herself on Heather’s couch, folding her legs but still giving Heather quite a view, leaving Heather watching her for a long moment before she disappeared back into her bedroom again to get dressed in equally form-fitting clothing, brushing her long red hair and tying it back before emerging from the room. “You’re looking good enough to eat…” Océane told her and Heather blushed, moving to where Océane sat and leaning down to kiss her again, nipping on her lower lip before pulling her to her feet and holding her close.

Grabbing each other’s hands, they moved to exit the apartment, walking to another local, but more upscale restaurant that Heather had already booked a table at. Soon enough they were seated and Heather kept her hold on Océane’s hand, while beneath the table she ran her feet along the latter’s legs, watching the other shiver and her eyes darken as she did so. Through the ordering of food, eating the meal and even dessert the games remained the same, Heather teasingly touching Océane with her feet, clearly arousing the other the entire time.

After they finished – and Heather paid – they exited the restaurant, Heather still holding tightly to Océane’s hand as they walked through Geneva as a pair. Leaning closer to her at one point, Heather nipped at Océane’s neck, sucking lightly at her pulse point and leaving the trace of a hickey behind.

“We should head back to your apartment.” Océane told her and Heather didn’t disagree, turning the walk in that direction and arriving all too soon at her apartment.

As soon as they walked through the door, Heather pinned Océane back against it, her free hand moving up beneath Océane’s short skirt to find not only was she not wearing any underwear, she was soaking wet. Moving her mouth to moan softly against Océane’s ear, she whispered to her, “Fuck, you’re trying to kill me…”

Whimpering herself from the intimate touches Heather was making, Océane rocked against Heather’s hand, pleading with her, “Take me to bed, make me scream again…”

Heather did so with little convincing, ripping the short skirt off her partner and shoving her onto the edge of the bed, dropping to her knees and spreading Océane’s knees apart, moving in to bite on her clit and send the other writhing in pleasure. Soon enough she had her fingers and her tongue pumping in and out of her lover’s pussy, while her tongue worked over her clit.

“Close…” Océane whispered and Heather added another finger, pushing them deeper and hearing Océane scream – and muscles tighten around her fingers – when she finally pushed her over the edge. When Océane finally caught her breath, she told Heather, “Get your toys…”

Quickly obliging – while licking her fingers clean as Océane watched and moaned, Heather brought out her toy box, knowing exactly what Océane was going for – the vibrating dildo that put her in complete control.

After getting her partner off Heather was plenty wet herself, and Océane yanked her shorts and underwear off, slowly inserting the dildo into it was in to the hilt, and then almost immediately turning the vibrations on to the medium setting. “Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.” Heather whined as she bucked against the dildo, Océane using it to pump in and out of her while she played with the strength of the vibrations, teasing and tormenting Heather by lowering and then dramatically raising the vibrations with a degree of regularity.

It wasn’t long before Heather too was screaming out, shaking around the dildo and panting heavily for her breath. After removing the dildo, she pounced Océane to the bed, hands running over the other’s breasts as she searched out her lips for another languid kiss, mostly naked bodies rubbing against each other and getting each other hot all over again.

Maybe Eric was right and she _should_ know more about Océane, but she surely enjoyed what she did know so far!


	9. Broken

With a three-day test at Mugello forthcoming, Heather was distracted by packing and other necessary things and was again completely surprised when her doorbell rang in the middle of a Sunday afternoon. “Oh hey Océane,” She greeted her lover, busing her lips with a kiss before turning to go back to packing, leaving the other standing in the doorway looking confused.

“What is going on?”

“I have testing tomorrow through Wednesday at one of the tracks we run, and I’m trying to make sure I’ve got everything I’m going to need for the 3 days gone.” Heather explained as she ducked off into her room for a Ducati baseball cap, coming out a moment later and tossing it in the opened rolling backpack.

“You are leaving. Oh.”

“Yeah.” And at the tone of Océane’s voice, Heather asked her, “Would you like to come with? I’m sure I can get you into the testing with me, you could sit and watch what goes on…”

“I’d have to take off from work.” Océane replied, and Heather just tilted her head at her.

“Why do you work there?” Heather wondered aloud, explaining, “You seem too smart to be in such a dead-end job…”

“My former boyfriend worked there…” Océane said with a sniffle and Heather’s eyebrows both roofed at this bit of news, waiting for the further explanation. “But he died in a car crash one night and I’ve never felt comfortable leaving. He also gave me this ring…” She added, pointing to a simple silver and black ring.

“Understood.” Heather said as she moved to kiss Océane lightly again, only a bit surprised when the other went on the aggressive and bit on Heather’s lower lip, seeking entrance to her mouth, which Heather happily granted her. Their tongues exploring each other’s mouth, Heather moved to tuck her hands in the pockets of Océane’s jeans, holding them close together. Eventually they separated, both panting for breath, and Heather whispered to her, “I won’t ever expect you to forget him, but perhaps I can fill some of your void and make you find some happiness again…”

“You already are.” Océane told her, and after another moment, she told Heather, “I’ll see about getting off from work.”

“Brilliant!” Heather said with a smile, leaning her forehead against Océane’s and just smiling at her. “You’re my favorite distraction y’know.”

“Distraction?” Océane questioned with furrowed brows.

“Yeah.” Heather said with a loud laugh. “I should be packing, instead I’m wrapped around you. And not bothered by that in the least, though Jorge may be a bit grumpy if his plane has to take a bit longer to pick me up than originally scheduled.”

“Who is Jorge?”

“My teammate. A really good guy. A pain in my ass sometimes, but he mostly just acts like my big brother. He’s good people.”

“Oh.” Océane said, showing her lack of knowledge about MotoGP.

“I’m not sure if Casey is coming to this test. He’s got a wife and a little girl and they all live in Australia. So it’s quite a hike for him come test for a few days. He’d already have long since had to be in the air, I’m sure.”

Océane just looked confused by it all but she gave Heather a brilliant smile, and Heather gave her another quick kiss before pulling back to pack anew.

~*~

Climbing onto Jorge’s private plane after handing her bag off to one of the attendants – and instructing Océane to do the same with her bag – Heather immediately went to her teammate and gave him a hug before flopping in the seat opposite him. “How you, shithead?”

Flipping her off, Jorge grinned, answering, “Fine, thank you. Alex sends his regards. And who is this beauty with you?”

“This is Océane, my…girlfriend?” Heather glanced at Océane and she nodded so Heather grinned wider and said more confidently, “My girlfriend.”

Laughing softly, Jorge just grinned wider and teased her, “Someone never told me they played for both teams, too!”

Shrugging at him and pulling Océane down onto her lap, her hand sitting high on her thigh, Heather told him, “Takes the right person to make me hit for the home team.” Massaging Océane’s thigh as the other shivered a bit, Heather added. “I found a good one.”

“That may be the case, but plane rules are one per seat so…” Jorge teased and Heather sighed, letting go of Océane and letting her find her own seat near them.

“Thank you for the pickup, anyways.” Heather responded as she checked to see if there was any way she could reach Océane’s thigh from where she sat, but realizing there wasn’t, she pouted a bit.

“Not a problem. Woulda been easier if you’d picked Lugano over Geneva, but the Dani factor was an understandable game-changer.” Jorge murmured as Océane picked her attention up at that.

“Dani?” She asked.

“The guy I go working out with every morning? That’s Dani. And lately, his brother Eric as well.” Heather explained to her as Océane nodded slowly in response.

“Ahhh, the Model King of the Hashtags,” Jorge laughed. “I’m surprised he hasn’t been on Instagram about you three, showing off video of the three of you and whatever you do.”

“No, he’s been too busy posting half-naked shots where he’s pulling his underwear down.” Heather noted as Océane again picked up her attention.

“Should you really be hanging out with this Eric fellow if he’s posting porn pictures on Instagram?” She questioned and Heather just laughed in response before answering.

“He’s a good guy, and in good shape. He’s a bit crazy on Instagram but he’s not half naked when he’s around me, so it’s all good. Besides, I’m with you and I’m happy.”

Océane looked less than convinced, but she didn’t say anything.

~*~

After two overnights spent in a hotel near the track (and more moaning for Océane), Heather and Océane headed in to the track, Heather again taking her lover to her ready room to show her the leathers and other gear she wore for riding the bike. They had a nice little make-out session while Heather was in her Alpinestars undergear, and then Heather headed out, reminding Océane to watch if she wanted but to otherwise stay out of the way.

The previous day had been spent playing follow the leader (Jorge), with Dovi right behind him, and Heather bringing up the rear. On this day, they were going out in staggered runs, with Heather going out first.

And initially it went well, with her board showing that her times were improving from the previous day, and Heather internally fist-pumped at that, pleased that she was making progress. But that soon changed as she approached the San Donato curve and Heather’s bike went out from under her. Trapping her foot even as she tried to keep the bike upright, the result left her writhing in pain beside the virtually undamaged bike.

Within 5 to 10 minutes, but what felt like a lifetime, Jorge’s scooter arrived with him and one of her mechanics, Jorge jumping off to lean over Heather, asking her, “How bad is it, can you put weight on it?” Reaching for Jorge’s hands, Heather let him help her to her feet, trying to put weight down on her right leg and squeezing Jorge’s hands tightly at the amount of pain she was in. “I’ll take that as a no.”

“Fuck.” Heather told him, knowing he’d say something sarcastic if she didn’t follow that up quickly. “I have no fucking luck.”

“Océane might say otherwise.” Jorge promptly teased and Heather growled at him a bit but let him help her over to the scooter, positioning her in the back seat. Once she was safely positioned, he went to help the mechanic get the bike upright and told him, “You ride her back, I’ll ride her bike back.”

Leaning heavily against her mechanic and just fighting back tears in her helmet, Heather let her crew carry her off the scooter once they arrived, settling her in a chair and listening as they told her they were summoning the on-sight ambulance crew. Her boots and socks were removed as she sat, and Heather lowered her head into her hands, waiting for some sort of comfort to come from Océane but not finding any. In fact, she didn’t even see her girlfriend in her range of sight.

Soon enough Heather was being loaded on the ambulance, to be taken to the local hospital, where she was fully expecting to be told she’d broken bones in her foot. She was surprised when Dovi of all people joined her, telling her simply, “You’ll need someone to translate. And some support. So I help.”

Reaching over to squeeze his hand, Heather let her head flop back against the pillows, feeling her foot being examined and just grimacing in pain, squeezing Dovi’s hand harder. She heard him speak in Italian to the ambulance crew and just trusted him to take care of things, before looking over at him and asking him, “Can they get me painkillers or something, please? I still had some in my bag…” And she sighed.

“They say you will need to wait until you are at the hospital, they want you to be able to accurately assess the pain.” Heather swore under her breath, using a vocabulary that no doubt had Dovi raising his eyebrows in surprise, but she was in pain and frustrated. Once they arrived at the hospital they were taken to a private room, a Doctor coming in to properly examine her foot and then immediately taking her off for x-rays. When they returned to the room, the Doctor and Dovi had a conversation and Dovi finally turned to Heather, telling her, “You have some broken bones. He recommends surgery, but will ready you to travel if you would prefer to return to Switzerland and have surgery there.”

“Yes, I would.” Heather told him, still grimacing, and then asking, “Painkillers?”

“Coming up once they wrap you up, hon. Hang in there.”

Closing her eyes, Heather could only shake her head. Only she would have this kind of shit luck!

~*~

By the time they arrived back in Switzerland, Jorge grabbed Heather’s bag and loaded it into the waiting taxi, helping to make sure that she maneuvered herself on the hand crutches into the taxi, while Océane just trailed behind. Once they were both in the taxi, Océane leaned forward to the driver and asked him, “Can you drop me off at Brasserie Lipp Genève? I need to get to work…”

Heather was too surprised to even say a word, just letting the driver drop Océane off with only a fleeting kiss in her parting, and it was only then that Heather asked the driver, “Can you wait a moment, I need to make a call.” And with the driver’s agreement, Heather called Dani, asking him, “Can you give me a hand? I’ve broken my foot, and I need help getting into my apartment.”

“Yvette and I are out on a boat right now, but Eric is free, I’ll tell him to go to your apartment and give you whatever aid you need, ok?”

“Are you even allowed out on boats, Pedrosa?”

“Do you want help or not, Johnson?” Dani retorted and Heather finally laughed a bit, thanking him before hanging up and telling the driver her own address, knowing that Eric would be there shortly.

And sure enough, when they arrived, so too had the younger Pedrosa on his bicycle, head tilted as he waited for Heather to ease herself out of the taxi, giving the driver a hefty tip for waiting for Eric to pull the bags out of the back. With both bags over his shoulders he leaned down and easily scooped Heather up, telling her, “Wrap your arms around my neck.”

And so Heather did, leaning her head against his shoulder and letting him carry her up the 3 flights of stairs until they finally reached her apartment door. Gently putting her down so that she was able to balance on her crutches, Heather opened the door and Eric led them in, dropping both bags in the master bedroom before coming back out and asking her, “What else can I help you with while you have me here?”

“Could you get me a painkiller from my bag? I’m due…” Heather told him, even though she wasn’t precisely sure enough time had elapsed. But still Eric obliged, not only getting her the pill but also getting her a glass of water, watching as she tossed the pill back. “Do you need to me to stick around for anything else?”

Heather shook her head no, but summoned Eric closer, kissing his cheek and giving him a tight hug. “Thank you sweetie. I’ll owe you one once I’m back on my feet again, I promise you that.”

Eric just shrugged her off and reached to muss her hair, even as she tried to swat him away. “It’s what friends do for each other, Heather. It’s the least I can do.”

And as Eric let himself out, Heather mused on his words. Eric as a friend. She rather liked that.


	10. Recovery

The day after Heather arrived back in Switzerland she went under the knife, from a surgeon recommended by Jorge and Dani both. The damage had been severe enough to warrant 2 titanium plates and 10 screws, and Heather had a cast on her foot for at least the next week. The timeline for her recovery saw her being ready just in time for Mugello, but there was no guarantee she’d actually be able to race.

She was supposed to be resting for a week after the surgery, not engaging in any exercise and basically just keeping her foot up and she hoped that Océane would be there to help take care of her, but her girlfriend had been working seemingly 24/7 since they’d returned from Italy and Heather had barely seen her. In fact, the brief time she did see her was more sex, which while immensely enjoyable on one side of things, was disappointing on the other.

Relying on her pain pills to get through the day, Heather did spend the first day post-surgery with her foot up, but for the remaining time, she’d found ways to get to the work-out facility with the brothers’ Pedrosa. Though they were limiting the exercises they allowed her to do – especially when it came to balancing on the balancing ball – she was at least getting some exercise in.

“So do you think you’ll be declared fit to race?” Dani asked her as she worked on her shoulders, sitting on the balancing ball with her foot stretched out in front of her, heel of the cast balanced on the floor.

“I think so.” Heather replied. “Especially if we keep at it in here. Plus, I’ll have more painkillers, which should be enough to at least get me though the start of the race. And we know I can be aggressive when it comes down to it.”

“You’ve got to be careful when it comes to those painkillers.” Eric said softly. “They’re addicting. I don’t want to see you getting yourself in a situation where you’re relying on them too much.”

“I’m good.” Heather assured him, giving him a brilliant smile that saw the younger Pedrosa blushing a bit.

“Just checking.” Eric eventually told her. “I wouldn’t be a very good friend if I didn’t care about stuff like that.”

And Heather went silent at that, because those were the kind of things she’d been expecting, hoping for, from Océane, but she wasn’t really getting. And she didn’t know why. She understood her need to work, to provide a steady paycheck for herself even though Heather would have been more than happy to take care of her.

“Centimo for your thoughts.” Dani said, and Heather looked up at him, giving him the same brilliant smile she gave his brother.

“My thoughts are worth more than a single centimo.” Retorted Heather and both brothers laughed at her, before she explained, “Just thinking about my relationship. It’s a bit…strange right now…with her having to work so much, to make up for her having been gone when we were in Italy...It’s like all sex, nothing else.”

Dani sighed at her immediately and told her, “ **Too much information!!!** ” to Heather’s instantaneous laughter.

“Sorrrrrrrry…” Heather said in a voice that was clearly so not very sorry.

Eric just looked between his brother and Heather with a grin on his face, teasing his brother, “It’s not like you’re some sort of celibate priest, Dani.”

“Yes, but you don’t see me telling you about bending Yvette over the kitchen counter, now do you?” Dani countered even as his face went a rather pretty shade of crimson.

Glancing over at Eric with a grin on her face, Heather teased Dani, “Remind me not to eat off the counters the next time I’m at Villa Pedrosa!”

“Fuck you, Johnson, fuck you.” Dani grumbled, and Heather just threw her head back and howled with laughter.

“Wasn’t you not wanting to know that started this whole conversation?” Heather teased again as Dani just huffed at her and Eric tittered in the background.

Dani just shook his head and went to jump on the bicycle machine, leaving Heather to watch as she couldn’t follow him.

~*~

With the cast off, Heather was down to a plastic boot (and still the hand crutches), but she was much more comfortable and feeling more flexible when it came to movement. Océane was coming around more, and they’d spend time talking about her former boyfriend, or her goals and dreams. She said she wanted to have her own beauty salon, but she didn’t have the money to go to beauty school.

And while Heather wasn’t quite willing to promise her the money to do so – not knowing what the future might hold for them – she did assure her girlfriend she’d do everything in her power to help her make her dreams come true. The sex remained tremendous, though Heather was still the only one eating either of them out – Océane preferred to use sex toys to get Heather off. Not that Heather really minded as long she got off, but it would have been nice to taste herself on Océane’s lips once in a while.

In terms of exercise, the Pedrosa boys were letting her balance on the balance ball again, though Eric had spent the first such day of that hovering close to Heather to make sure she didn’t fall off and injure herself worse. He still didn’t seem that confident in Heather not injuring herself further, but he had at least backed off and was letting her do most of the same exercises that they were doing.

Things were so seemingly _normal_ that Heather was surprised to get a text from Océane, asking where she was, and once Heather answered, asking if she could come too. So Heather gave her directions to the gym and Eric said he’d be on the lookout for her, based on Heather’s description of her.

“Hiiiiiii!” Océane breezed in once she did finally show up, giving Heather a breathless kiss that left her panting before she caught her girlfriend’s eyes, trying to figure out what she was up to. “I don’t have to work tonight…shall we go dancing?”

Looking down at the plastic boot on her foot and then looking at Océane, Heather murmured at her, “I’m not sure that’s a good idea for me right now. Last thing I need is someone jostling my foot on the dance floor and extending my recovery time…”

“So you can come in here and risk further injury exercising but won’t go dancing with me?” Océane pouted and folded her arms beneath her chest.

“I’ve got two very good spotters here who are on their toes to make sure I don’t fall suddenly or otherwise do anything that would hurt myself further. And Océane, I don’t think you’ve properly met Eric, so Eric, meet Océane.”

Océane gave Eric a bit of an icy look, but held out her hand for him to kiss, which he obliged and said to her softly, “It’s nice to meet the one Heather is always talking about.”

At that Océane perked up a bit more, asking Heather, “You talk about me?”

“Of course I do…you’re my girlfriend…you’re everything to me…” Heather murmured at her as she reached for Eric’s hand to get him to help pull her to her feet so that she could limp over to Océane and wrap her arms around her. “I’m falling in love with you…” Heather whispered against her ear, and though the brothers Pedrosa could see Océane’s eyebrows roof at that comment, Heather couldn’t and she just nuzzled Océane.

“I may go out dancing on my own tonight then…” Océane said, completely bypassing Heather’s comment about love and Heather sighed softly, lowering her head against Océane’s shoulder for the moment before limping back to the balance ball and starting to do sit-ups.

“Go. I’ve got a key made for you; it’s on my keyring. Feel free to take it and come back when you’re done.” Heather told her and she was surprised when Océane shook her head slightly.

“It will probably be too late when I get back; I wouldn’t want to wake you up.” Océane responded and Heather eyed her for a long moment before just nodding her head and beckoning the other closer, kissing her lightly on the lips. “I will see you soon.”

“I know you will,” Heather told her as she shifted her weight slightly and winced slightly – caught by Eric, but not by the other two. “Go. Have fun.”

And when Océane breezed out of the exit a few minutes later, Heather just looked down and tried not to cry, only mildly surprised when Eric came over and placed an arm around her shoulders. “You going to be ok, sweetie?”

Nodding her head, Heather mumbled, “I just stepped on my foot wrong, that’s all. I shouldn’t have been trying to limp around on it.”

Eric gave her a look but he didn’t argue.


	11. Océane & Eric, Part Duex

With just days before the Mugello race, Heather kept practicing walking on her foot without the plastic boot, trying to get herself used to the level of pain she’d need to endure during the practices and race. She had ‘pretty’ yellow and purple discoloration over the surgery spot, and she was already well aware she’d need to add some extra padding to the inside of her boot to protect that spot.

Things remained largely status quo as she recovered from her injury – Océane came over fairly frequently, but sometimes it seemed like she was distracted, her mind in another place. Much to Heather’s great relief Océane had shared that she was falling in love with her, too. And as always, the sex remained fantastic, with it being a rare night that the two didn’t end up naked and sticky in bed together. Still, those times that Océane was aloof around her Heather didn’t understand why.

Exercise with the Pedrosa brothers also remained pretty much the same, with Eric ‘allowing’ her more and more difficult workouts the closer they got to Mugello. They’d even gone on a bike tour around Geneva, but like Océane, Eric also had started to seem somewhat aloof, like he had something (or maybe someone?) going on in the background and didn’t want to share the news with Heather.

And so on the night before they were to all leave for Mugello, Heather took what was supposed to be a 5 kilometer bike ride with Eric – except she had to stop maybe a kilometer in due to the pain in her foot. Doubling back around, they returned to Dani’s apartment to drop off the bikes (Heather had nowhere to store hers at her apartment) and Eric offered to walk Heather home.

On her arm crutches (but minus the plastic boot) she hobbled, Eric at her side and watching her like an eagle, presumably waiting to catch her if she fell. And though she appreciated the sentiment, she was fairly confident that wasn’t going to happen at this stage of the game. When they finally reached her apartment, Eric teasingly offered, “You sure you don’t need a piggyback ride up the stairs?”

Laughing softly, but leaning close to give him a tight hug, Heather declined his offer, giving him a wave as she went to head up to her apartment. Flipping on the light switch, the sight that greeted her gave her some pause – a trail of skimpy woman’s clothing heading straight to her bedroom. Licking her lips as she thought about it, she realized that Océane must have let herself in and was waiting for her, and after grabbing a painkiller or two, Heather strode back to the bedroom only to end up stunned in her doorway.

For while Océane had certainly let herself in, she definitely wasn’t waiting for or even expecting Heather – not with the man on top of her buried balls deep inside of her. For the moment, Heather thought about just backing away and leaving the apartment, but she reminded herself it **was** her apartment and Océane had **zero** rights to be pulling this kind of stunt.

“Océane!” Heather hollered as the two on the bed stopped in their tracks, both looking like deer in headlights. “What the fuck is going on here?”

But it wasn’t Océane who answered, but her male companion who just smirked at Heather and told her, “I’m fucking my girlfriend in her bed.”

Heather’s mouth dropped at that, her eyes darting over to Océane, but finding the other wouldn’t meet her and was instead looking down. It took Heather a moment before the rage started to overcome her but moving away from the door, she yelled at them both, “Get out! Both of you! And Océane, give me my key back! I never want to see you again, you slimy cunt!”

Océane at least had the grace to look somewhat ashamed as she returned the key and gathered up her clothes, but her ‘boyfriend’ continued to strut around like he owned the place. Grabbing one of her crutches and shaking it in his direction, she warned him, “Get out before I hit you with this thing so hard in the nuts that you’ll never be able to even think about having children!” A brief look of fear passed through his eyes before he darted for the exit, t-shirt still not on yet, and Océane was left in Heather’s company alone. And all Heather could ask her was, “Why?”

“It was his idea from the beginning.” She muttered as she finished getting dressed. “I’m sorry. I really was starting to care for you...” As she too departed, Heather sunk on her couch, dropping her head in her hands and just starting to cry. Somehow in her grief she managed to grab her cell phone and text an ‘SOS’ to Eric’s phone, but mostly she just sobbed on the couch.

Maybe 5 minutes after she’d sent the text she heard someone running up the stairs and then her doorbell ringing and Heather pushed herself to her feet, using the crutches to slowly maneuver to the door and open it for Eric. He took one look at her and scooped her up into his arms, the crutches dropping to the floor as he kicked the door shut, and carried her back over to the couch, immediately trying to soothe her.

It must have been a good 10 minutes before either truly spoke, and it was Eric asking very softly, “What did she do to you?”

“I caught her in my bed…with her boyfriend. Who didn’t seem the least bit nonplussed by my appearance. Maybe only the timing of it, but not that I lived here…” Heather told him as she buried her face against Eric’s neck, hot tears still streaming down her cheeks.

“I knew something like this was going to happen. I knew she wasn’t what she told you she was.” Eric said sadly, and Heather lifted her face off his shoulder to gaze at him curiously. Leaning in to kiss her forehead, Eric told her in that same quiet voice, “I asked Dani to hire a private investigator, to learn more about Océane. And I’d just gotten his report today and was trying to figure out when and where to share it with you.”

“Why would you do that?”

“As I said, I didn’t trust her. I didn’t want to see her hurting you, but I realized after today there was no way to avoid it.” Stroking his hand through her hair, Eric continued calmly but quietly, “Based on what the investigator found, she’s been yanking your chain from the very first time you met her. According to her co-workers, it was her boyfriend’s idea for her to ‘date’ you. He realized you had money, and was hoping you’d spend it on her, so that they could both profit…”

“God…” Heather whispered as she curled more into Eric, just trying to let his strength comfort her. “Is there more?”

“Yeah, there’s a lot more. But right now I think you need out of this place, so come back with me to Villa Pedrosa and we’ll share the King sized bed in the guest room. I’m sure Dani’ll let you stay there until you have a chance to replace the bed here…”

“I had wanted a waterbed here…but this is not the way I wanted to end up getting one.” Heather said with a soft sigh, bringing her hand up to roughly rub at her eyes. “Are you coming to Mugello, too?”

“That’s the plan.” Eric told her and Heather nodded, relaxing more against him and even getting a little drifty.

“Good. You can stay in my coach if you want. I think I’m going to need your support badly this weekend.” Heather answered softly as she forced her eyes open and tried to pull herself awkwardly to her feet.

“Yeah, I’m afraid some shit will like hit the fan this weekend.” Eric said softly, and Heather just stared at him, unable to compute what he meant. “Either her or the boyfriend are almost guaranteed to out you, to try and get money out of you. That you are a female makes this easier than say if you were my brother, because the other riders aren’t going to care if you’re seeing females instead of males. In fact, some will probably prefer it that way.”

“I don’t think I’ll be dating another female for a long time. My heart hurts too much right now. I really believed her when she said she was falling in love with me. How could I have been so stupid?”

Holding out his hands to help Heather balance on her feet, Eric told her softly, “You weren’t stupid hon, you were just blinded by love. You didn’t want to see the signs that things weren’t right, so you focused on the good. No one can blame you for that…” Rising to his feet as well, Eric then asked, “Is your Ducati roller packed for this weekend?”

“Yeah…it is. But if I’m going back with you I need some pajamas, and some Ducati gear to wear for tomorrows flight.”

“Do you need some help gathering that stuff?”

“If you could grab the roller, I’ll just grab a small travel bag for the overnight, and then I’ll be good to go.”

Eric squeezed her hands lightly then let them go, heading off to her bedroom to grab the Ducati bag. Heather slowly followed behind, finding her plastic boot and throwing it on again before packing up for the overnight and next day. When she was done, she looked at the awaiting Eric and told him softly, “I’m all set.”

“I’m sorry this happened to you hon, I really am.”

Giving Eric the saddest of smiles, Heather simply replied, “You and me both, my friend…you and me both.”


	12. Outed

Having read the investigator’s report extensively, and discussed it with her agents and lawyers at Playmaker, Heather had agreed with their conclusion that she needed a restraining order against Océane and her boyfriend, as imminent threats to her health or safety. And with the investigative report revealing the boyfriend – who had existed from day 1 – had been in this for money, this pre-emptive strike would hopefully avoid negative media on her behalf.

And so Heather found herself at the presser with the other normally scheduled riders, with the intention she would make her announcement first, and then everyone would hopefully leave her alone and focus on the other riders. Once it was made clear she had an announcement to make, she read from the carefully crafted paper that she, Albert, and Artur had spent the early morning working on.

“I’m here to announce that I’m bisexual. Not that this affects the way I ride in any way, shape, or form, but I have to mention it because of an ex-girlfriend and her boyfriend who would have no doubt looked to extort me if I hadn’t cleared the air first. My sexuality is not something I am ashamed of – my parents have known since I was a teenager and brought my first girlfriend home. They love and support me, and the other important people in my life do as well. I’d prefer not to answer questions on this, and to leave the presser to the other riders, but I know this won’t happen, so I only ask that you take into consideration that the breakup I just had to go through was painful. Thank you.”

The gathered crowd burst into immediate side conversations and mutterings and mumblings that she couldn’t make heads or tails of, but Maverick, who was seated beside her, reached quietly under the table and squeezed her knee, even as he kept his face straight ahead. Patting his hand, she silently thanked him and he removed his hand, no one the wiser that the young rider had just offered support.

The other riders were introduced, and the normal questions asked of them, and then the floor was opened to reporters and not surprisingly the first question was directed at her. “Heather, do you think you’ll lose fans over this announcement?”

“Of course I will, but those were only the fans who were interested in my rack anyways, so it’s not great loss. I will however get new fans who want to support an LGBTQ athlete and this will probably offer me more sponsorship opportunities as well.”

“This question is for the other riders…how do you feel about riding against someone who isn’t straight?”

“No problems with it.” Jorge spoke immediately as the points leader, reminding the media, “Last I checked who she’s with off the bike has no effect of what she does on the bike. And I’d like to remind you it’s what she’s done on the bike that has gotten her here.”

“Definitely no problems with it.” Dani confirmed, trailing closely behind Jorge in the points, a mere 10 points separating them. “Heather is my friend, has been since the beginning of her time here, and is also my workout partner. I’m not worried about her coming on to me or my girlfriend. Just because she’s not straight doesn’t mean she’s going to go after everyone on the grid.”

And so it continued down the line, with only Valentino declining to answer, on the merit of it not affecting him. He got several dirty looks from other riders at that – Heather included – but him being Valentino, he was otherwise allowed to get away with it.

As the presser started to conclude, another question came flying Heather’s way, this time from a reporter from Switzerland, who indicated, “Reports are coming out of Geneva that you left your former girlfriend homeless and destitute, that she’d given up everything to be with you…”

Heather could only stare at the man before bursting into tears, making a hobbled run from the conference room and into the ladies’ room and locking herself in a stall. Head lowered in her hands she just sobbed, in disbelief that Océane could ever dream of accusing her of that. And even realizing that it was probably the boyfriend’s doing, it **_hurt_**.

Sometime after the presser had ended, one of the female reporters from Movistar came in and spoke quietly in accented English. “The scoundrels have left, Heather. It is just me now, and I have no questions for you, just sympathy.”

Sniffling softly as she came out of the stall, the woman gave her a sad smile before adding, “The younger Pedrosa has been pacing outside the door for some time, presumably waiting for you. You should go to him.”

And opening the door, Heather almost ran right into Eric, who just turned and wrapped his arms around her, whispering against her ear, “You did good hon. I’m so sorry they made you cry…”

Leaning her forehead against Eric’s shoulder, Heather just absorbed his strength for several minutes before murmuring, “I need to go debrief with the team and any media slugs who want to see if they can make me cry more.”

“Do you want me to come with?” Eric asked her softly and she shook her head no, but handed him her keys, telling him, “You can let yourself into my coach though. Just text me what you want from hospitality and I’ll have them deliver to us.”

Stroking her hair one more time, Eric gave her a tight hug and then a kiss on the forehead. “You’re stronger than you think you are. You’ll make it through this, I promise you.”

And somehow, with Eric’s assurances, Heather almost believed that.

~*~

Having been popping painkillers almost as though they were candy, Heather felt more than prepared for the race in Mugello. She’d managed to qualify into Qualifying 2 thanks to her practice times, and though she was starting the race in 10th, that still was an improvement over where she’d started her previous races.

Eric had offered to brolly for her, and just to really draw attention to them, he’d purposefully not worn a shirt. Heather had to admit it was a distraction, but a pleasant one, and she’d felt him grin at her more than a few times when he felt her eyes on him.

“You’re just mean.” Heather told him under her breath when there were fewer bodies on the grid, and Eric just laughed softly, playfully spinning the umbrella in front of them, blocking camera view of the two of them.

Soon enough, Eric too was leaving the grid and Heather focused on the last warm up lap before settling into her grid position, crossing herself and watching the lights, taking off as soon as the red lights went off. No longer were her thoughts on Océane, Eric, or anything else, just on picking up as many positions in the first laps as she could.

Dicing through the pack, Heather got a tremendous start, getting all the way up to 3rd on the grid before both Jorge and Dani got back past her, leaving her to settle into 5th. She kept her bike tightly behind Dani’s, trying several times to get back past him over the following laps, but to little success, as the older rider was simply riding a better race than she was.

As they reached the halfway point of the race, Andrea Iannone crashed out of the lead, taking Valentino with him, and Heather found herself in 3rd again, with Jorge leading the race. Unfortunately for Heather, she could feel the painkillers starting to wear off and she started backing off of Dani, falling into Maverick’s grasp. He cleanly passed her and Pol followed, dropping Heather back into 5th again.

And that was how they remained until the race ended, with Marc Marquez nipping at her heels, but Heather using the superior Ducati horsepower to edge him to the line. Fist pumping once she was safely across the line, she sped up to catch Jorge and grab his hand and even though his helmet she could see him grinning at her. She may not have gotten a podium, but it was almost as good as one for the test rider.

Heading back to her garage stall, she let the team push the bike with her on it into the garage, and then Eric of all people helped her off the bike, leaving her with her arms wrapped around his neck momentarily. Heather gave him a quick hug before hobbling to her chair, beckoning her team closer for her debrief.

And through it all, Heather couldn’t help but notice that Eric watched over it all like a proud papa.

~*~

Flying back with Dani and Eric to Geneva, Heather curled up against Eric’s shoulder, not caring how it looked or what any of the other passengers thought. He was comforting to her, and she felt safe with him close by. While she rested, Eric ran his fingers through her hair, murmuring softly to her, “You did fantastic today, hon. Especially with your foot as it is…”

“Thank you.” Heather replied softly, letting her eyes drift shut as she slowly drifted off, trusting Eric to take care of her.

While she slept, the brothers softly discussed the questioning she’d undoubtedly continue to face, the investigative report, and just Heather in general. Dani inquired of his brother, “Are you sure you should be sharing a bed with her at this point, even if it is a King?”

“What’s the worst thing that happens, she curls up to me?” Eric retorted, his fingers still lightly moving through the sleeping Heather’s hair.

“I know you like her, a lot. I just don’t want to see either of you getting hurt because she rebounds into a relationship with you. You’ve got to give her time to get over the shock of the Océane situation.”

“Just because I’m younger than you doesn’t mean I’m an idiot.” Eric told him softly.

“I wasn’t trying to say you were. I’m just saying be careful.” Dani responded, as his eyes drifted over to Heather shifting and curling closer to Eric.

Eric’s only response to his brother was to kiss Heather’s forehead quietly.


	13. Summertime

With Heather not scheduled to race again until mid-August in Austria at the Red Bull Ring – a reward for her top 5 performance in Mugello – she went and had the surgery done to remove the plates and screws from her foot, casting it back up again and knowing it would stay that way for several weeks. But that didn’t stop her from attending races to cheer on her teammates, or from working out with Dani and Eric, the latter of whom seemed to have all but moved into his brother’s home.

During that time, Eric was slowly but more aggressively pursuing Heather, to which she kept demurring. She loved her friend and was terrified of losing him as that – so she kept pushing back at his attempts to go out on dates, or stay in for dates, or anything that had anything remotely to do with a date.

No, what Heather wanted to have instead was some no strings attached fun, with a person she could trust (so someone in the MotoGP community) but someone she didn’t necessarily know that well. She didn’t want to screw up any friendships – which was why a fleeting thought about seeing if Jorge and Alex wanted a third for the summer was quickly ousted.

Instead, by the time Germany came around (and Heather was finally off her crutches hopefully for good), she began to carefully inquire around her friends if anyone knew of anyone else who might be up for a summer fling. And Aleix quickly mentioned his teammate, Sam Lowes, and his twin brother, Alex. Intrigued by the thought of summer days spent with virtually identical twins, Heather asked Aleix for the introduction to Sam.

And so at breakfast the morning of qualifying, Heather found herself at a table with Sam, casually asking about his plans for the summer. And it turned out he and Alex were heading to Ibiza with the intent on having some summer fun with the ladies. “What if I could guarantee you of that?” Heather asked Sam with an eyebrow cocked, his face slightly red at her questioning. “I’m looking for a summer fling myself and I think I could have some fun with you and your brother…”

Sam’s face went more red at that and Heather leaned in closer to tease him, “What, don’t tell me you’ve never had a fantasy about sharing a girl with your brother, maybe even doing some filthy kinky stuff…”

Looking around carefully with his still red face, Sam admitted that he had, but wasn’t sure his brother felt the same way. However, a quick text to the other Lowes twin found that he two shared those fantasies, and plans were tentatively made for Heather to meet up with the boys in Ibiza, to share the summer break and then come back racing with a bang.

When Heather gave Sam a kiss on the cheek and sauntered away from his table, he was still red, but his eyes were dark and glowing, and Heather knew that they’d all be having a good time. Twins, she mused. Would she able to tell one from the other? Did it even really matter? She knew she was clean after her time with Océane, and Sam assured her that both boys would make sure they were as well before they left for Ibiza.

Now all that remained was telling the brothers Pedrosa for her summer plans. But how exactly to do that? And would Eric really understand her need for a no-strings attached fling when she’d been turning him down consistently since Mugello?

~*~

The attempt at an explanation of Heather’s summer plans to the brothers Pedrosa had not gone as planned – or even remotely well. Eric had stomped out of the room, not understanding her need for a fling, and generally just upset that she was choosing to be with someone who wasn’t him.

Dani on the other hand seemed to at least understand and somewhat appreciate Heather’s choice, having told her, “It’s not necessarily what I would do, but if it really is no strings attached, and no effect on your future relationship with them, then I’d say go for it. You need to have some fun that doesn’t involve a bike or my brother.”

Curious, Heather asked, “Why do you think I need away from your brother?”

“I don’t necessarily.” Dani responded. “I just don’t want to see you rebound with him. I’d be worried about your long term stability with each other, your friendship, all those other little things…”

“I like him a lot.” Heather admitted to Dani softly, big green eyes looking up to meet brown eyes. “I’m just terrified of losing him as a friend if we cross that line…”

“I know hon. I share your concerns. But I don’t think he gets that. He just sees someone he really wants to be with and doesn’t understand your hesitations…”

To that, Heather could only sigh. Why couldn’t things just be easy?

~*~

“So why are you really pushing back on Eric?” Yvette wondered of Heather while the boys were out on a bike ride. “He likes you, you have admitted you like him so…”

“He’s too perfect.” Heather said quietly, eyes closing for a moment and just seeing a mental picture of Eric in her head, all muscular and sweet personality, and that sexy little smile he seemed to share only with her.

Nodding, Yvette admitted to her, “I felt the same way about Dani when I first met him. Like he couldn’t possibly be real. I was afraid to give him a chance, too…”

“I don’t want to rebound with him, either.” Heather explained softly. “I want the rebound to be meaningless fun, something that doesn’t matter to me, which it would be with the Lowes twins. Plus, let’s face it, the thought of twins together at the same time is fucking hot.”

Yvette went a little bit red and then giggled at Heather, telling her, “You really are a feisty one, aren’t you?”

Heather cracked a smile at that, telling her, “I don’t hold back. Everything I do, I do with all of me. I don’t want to half-ass being with Eric being I’m still getting over Océane. I want to give him all of me, if I can convince myself that doing so won’t make me lose our friendship in the process.”

“That’s one thing I wouldn’t worry about.” Yvette told her. “He cares about you and I don’t think that’ll ever change.”

Managing a slight smile at that, Heather hoped Yvette was right. She didn’t want this summer fling to cost her everything.


	14. Summer Sexcapades

Having arrived in Ibiza in nondescript clothes and a non-Ducati roller bag, Heather wasted little time getting over to the hotel the Lowes twins were staying at. Sam had told her they’d leave her a keycard at the front desk, and they’d be waiting in the room for her, and Heather was both nervous and excited. At the same time, she was trying to push Eric to the back of her brain, not wanting to think about the confrontation they’d had before she’d left. She wasn’t sure he was going to forgive her for having this summer fling, but she saw it as the only option to ready herself to ever be able to remotely date him.

Eventually she reached the room number on the card and knocked on the door before putting in the keycard, the door opening as she went to push it open. Sam – or at least who she presumed was Sam – greeted her with a smile and a kiss on the cheek – but she quickly turned her face and captured his lips, much to his surprise, though he didn’t resist. Pushing him back against the door, she slid a hand under his t-shirt, running her hand along firm muscle as he groaned softly.

A soft cough in the background reminded them that they weren’t alone and Heather separated from one twin to greet the other in an identical manner, pressing Alex against a wall and giving him the same possessive kiss she’d given his twin. As she continued to kiss Alex and run her hands along his equally firm abs, Sam came up behind her and pressed against her, moving to slide her t-shirt up, revealing the thin red lacy bra she’d worn.

“Fuuuuuuck.” Both twins said in near unison and Heather had to laugh softly.

Teasing them both, she asked, “Never seen a bra before, boys?”

Sam growled softly at that and with the brothers exchanging a quick look, they made her bra disappear swiftly, with each twin palming a breast and causing Heather to press more against Alex, this time it being her to groan softly. “What?” A hot whisper trailed past her ear, “Never been felt up before?”

“Mmm. Plenty of times. But never by two guys, twins at that, at the same time.” And Heather reached for Alex’s shirt as he held his arms up and she pulled the shirt up over his head. Almost immediately, she turned around – causing the boys to have to switch breasts they were palming – and removed Sam’s shirt as well. Turning her head to be able to look at both brothers, Heather told them, “You are both stunning creatures.”

Alex smirked a bit at that and leaned down to suck a nipple into his mouth, teething on it lightly as Sam followed suite with the other breast, leaving Heather to wrap her arms around their necks, fingers threading into their hair to hold them to her breasts as she just gasped softly repeatedly. Pulling back just slightly, she heard Sam whisper in that same hot breath against her ear, “Why don’t we move this to the bed?”

Nodding in agreement, Heather pulled back from the brothers, grabbing them both by the front of their jeans and tugging them off towards the bed, telling them, “You need to lose these.” Almost simultaneously the brothers backed away from Heather and stripped themselves of their jeans, leaving her with a set of twins in equally tented boxers and she just grinned at them both. “Enjoying yourselves, are you two?”

“Oh yeah.” They answered in unison again and Heather chuckled, taking a leap onto the bed and moving to shimmy out of her shorts, leaving her in a tiny pair of red lace panties. “Ooooooooohhhh yeah….”

“Well then c’mere big boys…I want to see you, feel you, _taste_ you…” Heather purred at them and almost instantaneously she had a twin on either side of her, both leaning in to take a breast into their respective mouths again as Heather arched up off the bed. Panting a little bit, she gasped at them, “Tell me your fantasies…double penetration? One fucking while the other gets blown? Whatever it is, I’ll make it happen…”

Again they groaned around her breasts and by now she couldn’t tell which twin was which, so one spoke up and said, “Double pen. If you can handle it…that would be fucking amazing…”

Pushing her chest up into their mouths, Heather asked in a growly voice, “Two dicks, one hole, or one dick per hole?”

“Whichever is easier for you…”

“Mmm…then better get me out of these panties and start loosening me up, boys…”

Dual moans met her ears once more.

~*~

Laying on Alex with his cock buried to the hilt of her pussy, Heather leaned closer to him to kiss him hungrily, teeth and tongue being exchanged while Sam continued to loosen up her ass, finally asking her, “Think you’re ready?”

Squeezing her muscles around Alex to make him groan in her mouth, she turned her head to gaze back at Sam, telling him, “Let me feel you, big boy…” And so he slowly started pushing into her asshole, Heather wincing a little bit at his size, but overall not feeling too poorly about the events at hand. Once he too was fully inside of her, the brothers gazed at each other and started an almost perfect simultaneous fuck, with one rocking in while the other pulled out.

Heather resumed kissing Alex hungrily again, feeling Sam take a bite at her pulse point and suck on the skin there, surely to leave a mark – leaving her a fleeting thought about how Eric might feel about that before she was moaning again, never having experienced anything quite like this before.

Rocking back and forth, back and forth, the brothers continued to bring Heather closer and closer to the edge, forcing her to break the kiss with Alex to throw her head back and tell them, “Close. God. So fucking close…”

At her words the boys picked up the pace, both pounding into her until she was screaming out loudly, muscles clenching down on them both, and her able to feel them both almost simultaneously fill their condoms as they both lost it following her.

Panting heavily as they both pulled out and Sam rolled off her – and Heather rolled off Alex – she just curled between them, panting heavily and telling them both, “That was fucking amazing. I’m totally down to doing that again more this trip…” They both tossed their used condoms in the nearby trash bin and shifted around a bit until Alex was facing her once more.

Sam rolled back close to her, sandwiching her between him and his brother and she just cuddled between them both, eyes drifting shut and her mind at peace for the first time a long time. She hadn’t even felt the need to take a painkiller at any point.

“Rest.” One of the brothers told her. “You deserve it after that. We’ll have more fun later.”

And as Heather drifted off to sleep, a faint smile curled over her lips.

~*~

After several days of fairly regular fucking, blow jobs, clit sucking and anything else sexual the 3 could think of, Heather was ready to head back to the real world. Though she was grateful for the twins for providing no expectations sexcapades, the longer the week progressed, the more Eric creeped into her mind.

How would he feel knowing she had 2 cocks inside her at once? That she’d woken the twins up with dueling hand jobs, and had them get each other off as well? How would he feel period when she came back to Geneva, marked up by the twins all over herself in some fairly obvious spots?

The more the week went on, the more Heather found herself sneaking painkillers to try and numb her mind, to try not to think about Eric, or anything else but the twins, and for the most part it worked. But now as she was edging closer to heading home, the worries came back anew.

“This was fun.” Alex said to her as he leaned in for a kiss, tongues trading spots and Heather’s eyes drifting shut. When the kiss concluded, he asked, “Will we see you again after this, or was this a one-time deal?”

“One-time deal.” Heather said immediately, as both twins’ faces fell a little bit. “Hey, no pouting guys, you knew that going in. We all agreed we just needed summer flings, and agreed to play it safe by it being each other’s.” Sam sighed but leaned in to give Heather a possessive kiss much like his brother had before, until Heather slowly pulled back and gave them both smiles. “At least I’ve got two new friends out of this, and you guys have some memories you won’t forget, yes?”

“Oh yes.” They both said in unison, causing Heather to laugh once more.

“I’m going to miss that.” She told them with a grin, and they both gave her bashful grins in return. Finishing off packing her bag, she beckoned them both closer, leaning in to give them both kisses before taking a step back, green eyes sparkling.

“See you around the track.” Sam told her and Heather nodded, throwing her backpack over her shoulders instead of wheeling it and moving to exit the room. “We won’t forget you!” Sam called out as she reached the doorknob and she just turned to blow them kisses.

As she walked down the hallway of the hotel though, she could only think of Eric and wonder what he would think of it all. Was this really worth it?

Grabbing her painkillers to pop a few more, Heather kept walking until she had exited the hotel and was waiting for a taxi back to the airport and home.

Whatever home would hold.


	15. Pain

Not long after arriving back in Geneva from her adventures in Ibiza, Dani and Yvette invited Heather over to dinner, which she happily accepted. Going to the familiar house, she was surprised when it wasn’t Eric but Yvette who greeted her at the door and she openly looked around for the younger Pedrosa brother.

When Yvette realized what Heather was doing, she told her quietly, “He’s gone back to Spain. For modeling work he said. But I think it was more in response to your vacation.”

Closing her eyes to fight back tears at Yvette’s words, Heather’s only response was a soft, “Oh.” She almost immediately felt the other woman’s arms around her in a tight hug.

“Give him time, hon. He just couldn’t understand why you needed to do what you did. I’m not sure if we’ll ever be able to make him understand. But he’ll eventually forgive you, and he’ll be back here and under your feet and annoying you again soon, of this I’m certain.”

Forcing a smile on her face even though Heather still just wanted to cry, she asked Yvette, “Where’s Dani?”

“In the kitchen, come, let’s join him, make sure he’s not burning the place down.”

Laughing softly, Heather followed, ending up on a stool on the opposite side of the kitchen bar and watching the couple move around the kitchen easily, so comfortable with each other, and how the other moved and after several moments of this, Heather asked softly, “Dani, are you mad at me too?”

“No hon.” Came the immediate response as he looked up from his work. “I told you before you left, I understood what you were doing.” Looking her over though he commented, “You do however look like you’ve been attacked by many tiny kittens.”

“We had a lot of fun.” Heather replied as she self-consciously tried to cover up some of the bite marks, cheeks flushing a pale red.

“And it was no strings attached?” Dani asked.

“More or less.” Heather replied. “I think they would have liked to continue this during the remainder of the season, but I shot that down. They were okay with it, made the best of the time we did have.”

“Like I said. Tiny kittens on attack.” Dani teased and Heather forced a smile on her face, again trying to adjust her shirt to hide the marks. “Hey…I’m just playing; you know that right?”

“Yeah. I know. I’m just…doubting everything right now because of who isn’t here…” Heather told them softly, looking down at her hands.

“He said he had to go back to model, but we’ll see how long it takes him to come back.” Dani murmured at her. 

“It’s all my fault.” Heather said as she brought her hands to her face, trying to hide the tears that were slowly trickling down.

“Hey…” Dani said as both he and Yvette came around the counter to wrap their arms around Heather together, trying to comfort Heather as she continued to softly cry.

“My fault.” Heather kept repeating softly, trying to shrug them off and still hide behind her hands. “I shouldn’t even be here right now; you guys shouldn’t even want anything to do with me…”

“Stop that.” Yvette told her as she moved one of Heather’s hands out of the way and reached to wipe away her tears. “You did what you had to do in order to move on from Océane. No one should fault you for that. He only is because he cares so much and it doesn’t make sense to him. Tell me this…are you even remotely thinking about Océane anymore?”

“No.” Heather whispered softly. “I only keep thinking about Eric.”

Yvette and Dani exchanged a look at that before both returned their attention back to Heather, one hugging her, the other wiping at her face with a tissue. “It’ll get better hon. Just give it time. He’s hurt right now. I bet it’ll be better by the next time you race…”

“I hope so.” Heather told them. “I’m too used to having him right there in my garage cheering me one. I don’t know how I’d cope without him there.”

“Hopefully you won’t have to find out.”

~*~

But as the days and weeks continued, it was only Dani working out with Heather, only Dani going on bike rides with her, and Heather was beginning to lose all faith in Eric forgiving her for her playtime. She’d heard nothing from him since she’d left for Ibiza, and truly at this point she didn’t expect to.

She continued to pop painkillers like they were candy, trying to numb herself from the mental pain of losing her friend. But even those weren’t helping, and she knew she couldn’t get a stronger strength, so she just continued to hoard the stock she did have left. But to say she was taking too many was an understatement.

Heather would go to the grocery store and pop a pill on coming home because Eric wasn’t there to greet her and help her unload her groceries. She’d work out with Dani and pop a pill afterwards because Eric wasn’t there spotting for her. She’d go to bed, and pop a pill, memories of sharing a bed with Eric causing her to tear up.

She and Dani continued to prepare for Austria, for the second ever race at the Red Bull Ring, and Heather was hoping for a continuation of last year’s dominance of the Ducati – that had been the entire reason she’d picked this race as her reward. Heather would settle for nothing less than a podium for this race, and she hadn’t even shared that goal with Dani or Jorge.

It was becoming increasingly easier for Heather to fool Dani and make him think that everything was ok – Heather credited the painkillers for that. She imagined that if Jorge was there, she’d be able to pull the wool over his eyes as well.

But still, Heather was worried about the Red Bull Ring. Not about the results – she was confident in her abilities – but about how she’d handle things emotionally, and if she’d be able to barter more painkillers out of Clinica Mobile with no apparent active injury. Should she risk injuring herself just to get more painkillers, she wondered?

Heather wondered if her male compatriots had the same issues with controlling emotions and riding, but then she thought about Jorge and his previous season, and his getting over Nuria before he and Alex hooked up. And though she knew he’d never admit it, she was also equally aware that relationship ending affected him.

She just had to make it through the upcoming race weekend and hope that Eric had forgiven her by that point.

If not, she had no idea how she’d cope.


	16. Numb

It was Thursday at the Red Bull Ring – media day for Jorge, Heather, and Dovi, and they set side by side on a couch in the Ducati hospitality building. Twice during the line of questioning, when it got too close to her sexuality or mentioning she’d been spotted with the Lowes twins in Ibiza, Heather had gotten up and snuck a pill – or so thought.

After Dani’s warnings to his friend that their female friend seemed “really off” and that he couldn’t put his finger on why, Jorge was on high alert for anything unusual – and in his humble opinion, taking pills in the middle of media was definitely unusual.

So when the media finally left them all alone and Dovi went off on his own, and Heather sat there staring blindly at the wall opposite her, Jorge threaded his hand into hers and told her in a no nonsense voice, “You’re coming with me.”

“Hmm? Why?” Heather questioned as she still rose to her feet to prepare to follow.

Aware of lingering media, Jorge shook his head and told her “We’ll talk more when we reach my motorcoach.”

“Okay.” Heather responded agreeably, leaning into her friend’s side, and humming quietly to herself, a self-comforting measure she’d picked up from Teddy over the years.

As Jorge lead her to the Sterilgarda Palace, he texted Dani, telling him, “Round up your brother. We need to stage an intervention on Heather or she’s going to be too drugged to race this weekend…”

As the moved into the motorcoach lot he got a text back from Dani that read, “!!!! … we’re on our way.”

Sending one more text before tucking the phone into his pocket, Jorge told Dani, “The door will be unlocked unless I need to lock her in; the key is under the doormat. Don’t give me shit about how original that is.” Finally, they reached the giant white motorcoach and Jorge led Heather inside, bringing her to the kitchen and preparing her a giant glass of water, pushing it her way and telling her, “Drink that.”

Amicably going along with Jorge’s words, Heather pounded back the water like she was dying of thirst, and then pushed the cup back to Jorge, asking, “More?”

Raising his eyebrows but realizing this was his best chance to try and push the painkillers out of her system, Jorge filled another giant glass, pushing it back her way as the door opened, and the Pedrosa brothers entered. As Jorge watched, a spark filled Heather’s eyes at seeing Eric before she bit on her lower lip hard enough to slice it open.

“Why are we here?” Eric growled as he tried to pull out of his brother’s grasp, seeing Heather immediately and still too angry to want to do anything with her.

“You supposedly care about her, so I’ve been told…” Jorge told him, before throwing at him the bottle of pills he’d stolen from Heather’s pocket without her realizing it. “She’s popping those like candy. Are you going to let her just drug herself to death or are you going to do something about it?”

Blinking as he caught the bottle of pills, looking at the prescription on the label before sucking in a breath. Eric finally looked at Heather – really looked at her – and noted how dazed she looked, how she wasn’t even aware of the conversation going on around her. “Oh baby…” He whispered, moving closer to her as he tucked the pills in his pocket and slowly pulled Heather into his arms.

And even as numb as she was, the waterworks started immediately at Eric’s actions – Heather moving to bury her face against his shoulder, and just whispering softly over and over again, “I’m sorry…”

And though part of him was still angry – very angry – at her having gone off to Ibiza with the Lowes twins, Eric couldn’t bear seeing her like this, so numb, so empty, so broken. Rocking her slightly back and forth he assured her softly, “I’ve got you, baby. And we’ll work through this, I promise you…”

Heather’s only response was to bite harder on her lower lip, the taste of copper soon on her tongue from the split she’d put in her lip.

~*~

Lying in bed together with Eric, Heather cuddled up against him, eyes closed and just focused on Eric and his closeness. Eric stroked his fingers through her hair and just tried to keep her calm and soothed, trying to avoid the spontaneous tears that had occurred so often already.

Both were in sleep clothes – Eric in his boxer briefs and a t-shirt, while Heather wore an extra-long t-shirt and her panties. To Heather they felt practically skin to skin, but she wasn’t complaining regardless. Eric’s hands ran along her arms and her hips, nothing sexual about it, just soothing, comforting touches.

When Eric went to give her a soft kiss on her forehead, Heather shifted slightly so that they were mouth to mouth, but Eric ended that quickly, whispering to her, “Not yet, baby. We’ve got a lot of work to do before we can go that route…” Sniffling softly at that, Heather buried her face against Eric’s shoulder and the tears began anew, Heather wondering if she was ever going to get another chance with Eric or if she’d lost that completely.

“Shoosh baby…I’ve got you. Deep breathes for me, okay?” Eric whispered to her and Heather just tried to get her breathing under control, curling closer to Eric and sliding a hand under his shirt, leaving her palm splayed over his heart. Heather focused on Eric’s steady heartbeat beneath her hand, trying to calm again, even as the tears continued to trickle. “We’re going to get you clean again, whatever it takes...”

“I need the pills.” Heather whispered to him softly as Eric shook his head at her.

“Not in the quantity you’re taking them, baby. You’re addicted to them; I think addicted to the numb feeling it’s giving you.” Eric whispered back to her, his hand still running lightly along her hips. Heather shivered slightly and pressed a little bit closer to Eric, as he gave her another kiss on her forehead. “I’ll be here, doing whatever it takes to get you better.”

“You save me.” Heather told him softly, face still buried against his neck.

Eric wanted to tell her he loved her but didn’t dare when he was still angry at her, knowing that there was much they needed to resolve before they even remotely tried to pursue each other. Not that he was sure that Heather completely understood that at this point. She was still too emotional, still too concerned that she had lost Eric completely, despite their current positions. And so they continued to lie there, Eric periodically stroking through her hair, just trying to keep her calm.

It was going to be a long road for them both, but anger notwithstanding, Eric felt Heather was worth it.


	17. Fight

Waking up the next morning with Eric at her side, Heather almost thought it was a dream – a really good dream – but a dream nonetheless. It had been too long since she’d shared a bed with her friend – though was he still her friend, she wondered? – and she curled closer to him, feeling him instinctively pull her in closer still.

Making a content little noise, Heather threaded her fingers into Eric’s hair and leaned in to kiss him awake, little tiny kitten kisses all over his face, eyes, even into his hair. She pressed their lips together as she could feel him start drifting awake and he kissed her back, his hand moving into her hair as they kissed languidly, Heather making a happy little sigh noise.

Eventually Eric drifted more awake and he slowly pushed Heather back, even though a line of spittle connected their mouths and whispered to her, “Not yet, baby. We’ve got too much still we need to resolve. And now isn’t the right time to do it. Our first priority is getting you off those pills…” Sniffling softly at his seeming rejection, Heather’s eyes started to leak again and Eric sighed softly, pulling her in so that her face was flush with his neck. “It’s going to be okay, baby.” He whispered, stroking her hair. “Just believe in me, and we’ll get you where you need to be.”

“What about us?” Heather asked in a tiny voice.

“Right now you’re my friend that I’m still very angry at. But you’re also my friend who needs my help, so that is my priority right now. Okay?” Eric asked, still running his fingers through Heather’s hair. That earned another Heather sniffle against Eric’s neck and he just softly sighed, not knowing if her tears were because she didn’t believe him or if it was because she didn’t believe she was worth him or not. “I’m staying by your side until we work **all** of this out.”

Heather took a calmer breath at that and just threaded her fingers into Eric’s shirt, clinging to him a little bit, before eventually asking in the same small voice, “What time is it?”

Glancing over top of her, he answered, “5:45 … still have time to lay here and just rest unless you want to get up and start working out early.”

“I’d rather lie with you if you don’t mind.” Heather answer, voice still small.

“I don’t mind.” Eric quietly assured her, keeping his hands moving through her hair as she purred softly at him, making him smile a bit. “You’re cute when you’re all sorts of cuddly like this y’know.”

“Am I?” Heather questioned.

“Yes.” Eric told her, shifting to kiss her forehead before moving a hand to lightly rub her back.

And so they remained in bed until 6:15, when Heather slowly rolled away from and out of bed before looking back at him and asking softly, “May I have a pill?”

“Yes, but this is the only one until your lunch break. And then that’ll be the only one until dinner. Okay? We’re going to wean you off of these if it’s the last thing I do.”

Heather sighed softly about her crutch being taken away but she wanted to (and in many ways had to) trust Eric, so she agreed, telling him, “I trust you.”

“Good.” He answered as he watched her get up and stretch, stripping right in front of him as he averted his eyes (mostly), while she changed into Ducati gear. He watched as she dropped to the floor and started doing pushups, and Eric rolled to the edge of the bed to help her by counting them out for her. She finally stopped when she reached 100, and then shifted immediately into sit-ups. Again, Eric counted them out for her, impressed as always by her strength and stamina.

When Heather finally finished with her mini-morning workout, she gazed back at Eric and questioned again simply, “Pill?”

“Yes baby.” He told her as he went to his jeans and pulled them on, fishing the bottle from his pocket and grabbing a single pill, handing it over to her while she cradled it like it was her precious. When Heather went off to get water to take the pill, Eric just sighed, tucking the pills deep in his pocket and hoping that she wouldn’t try and get them out of his jeans on him when he wasn’t expecting it.

It wasn’t that he didn’t trust her – even though he was still so very angry at her – but he realized she was addicted, and that might affect her actions. Already he’d seen that with the spontaneous tears.

Heading off into Heather’s kitchen, Eric started to prepare them both breakfast. It might not be hospitality quality, but he hoped she’d appreciate it.

~*~

With a day of following Eric’s strict pill protocol under her belt, Heather was definitely feeling on edge, snipping at her crew, even though her performance on the track so far had been superb. Amazing, or perhaps expectedly because she was on a Ducati, she’d never been lower than the top 5 in any of the practice sessions, and managed to qualify 4th, her best effort of the season thus far.

But still she snapped and growled at most everyone in her path, Jorge included, though at this point he wasn’t surprised at it. He knew what Eric was doing and supported him fully, simply telling her team to cut her some slack, that she was dealing with some hard shit at the moment and was struggling to deal with it. And though the team had no idea what Jorge was talking about, they trusted him, and Heather’s grumpiness was generally ignored.

Hiding back in her motorcoach after the long day, Heather growled at Eric when he denied her a pill and just curled up on her couch, feet tucked beneath her and staring out the front window of the couch. She was definitely going through withdrawals, and definitely having a hard time dealing with it all. Part of Eric wanted to get through what he knew would be an epic argument with her over her summer vacation, just so that they could get on to dealing with other things, but he wasn’t sure about battling her when she was like this.

“So why did you run off from me during summer break and fuck around with the Lowes twins?” Eric finally inquired, not the least bit surprised when he got an annoyed look as his initial answer from Heather.

“I’ve told you this before. I needed something no-strings attached to get Océane permanently out of my head; I needed something with someone or someone’s who weren’t friends, so there was nothing to get ruined if things went bad. I needed to clear my head so that the next time you asked me out, I could say ‘yes’ with nothing holding me back…”

“You could have had me. I wanted you, you knew I wanted you, and still you kept turning me down.” Eric grumbled at her, though his head spun at her last words, about needing to do what she’d done so that she **could** say yes with nothing holding her back.

“I wasn’t ready for you yet!” Heather yelled back at him, punching her fist against the couch and then angrily glaring at him. “If I’d have said yes, I wouldn’t have been the girlfriend you deserved, that you needed. I’d have still been distracted by Océane, and that drama.”

“But why did you need to go fuck around with the Lowes twins to accomplish that?”

“Because I’m a slut? I don’t know, okay? I just know it felt like the right idea at the time, and less so the longer it lasted because all I could think about was you, okay? All I could think about was you.”

“Do you have any idea how badly I want to kiss you right now? But I can’t, because that wouldn’t solve anything here…” Eric growled at her as he stood and paced in front of her and she stood and stopped in front of him, silently challenging him to give the kiss. “No.” He growled at he paced away, hands fisting at his sides. “I get it now, okay? I get your logic, even if I don’t agree with it. But my heart still hurts, and needs time to heal.”

Heather made an angry noise and dropped back down on the couch again, just flipping Eric the bird when he looked in her direction.

~*~

With only Eric’s allotted painkillers in her system as the race began, Heather was beyond edgy, beyond angry – she just wanted to get to the very front and not look back, but she wasn’t sure she’d be able to get past Jorge – not cleanly at least. And no matter how pissed off at the world she was, she didn’t dare take out her teammate, the points leader. That would be a great way to lose her testing job, and negate those rumors that she was going to be a full-time rider next season.

Starting aggressively, Heather got up to 2nd beyond Jorge right off the start, standing up Dovi on her way past him and having him shake his fist at her. And while part of her regreted it, part of her didn’t care – she wanted to win, or at least podium, and she wasn’t letting anyone or anything hold her back.

And so the first 5 laps went with the 3 factory Ducatis 1-2-3, and pulling away from the rest of the pack by a long shot. It was clearly going to be a battle again between the three of them, and Heather growled beneath her helmet. Standing up Dovi was one thing, but standing up Jorge? She couldn’t risk it.

But the podium? The podium she wanted badly. When she’d woken up in the morning with her back to Eric’s chest, and his hand splayed over her bare stomach, he’d promised her that if she got on the rostrum, she’d get the kiss he’d denied her the day before. And she wanted that kiss. Wanted the world to know that Eric was hers, even if he wasn’t yet, that he would be soon. Because she was going to fight for ‘them’ as much as Eric was fighting to get her clean.

The race continued much as it began, with the 3 Ducatis running away from the field, and Heather staying tucked in close behind Jorge, with Dovi tucked in behind her. Dovi was continuing to try and get past her, but Heather was playing him at his own game, out-breaking him at each corner, and forcing him to abort his passing attempts.

All too soon there was a mere 2 laps remaining and Heather knew if she was going to pass Jorge, she’d have to do it now, or else he’d simply pass her right back. Timing her exit to the Pirelli corner, she diced in below him, seeing him turn his helmet just slightly to give her a shocked look. Trying desperately to keep him behind her, Heather kept the lead through the remainder of that lap, leaving just one lap to go and the possibility of her first ever win.

But Jorge wasn’t to be dispatched so easily, and he returned the favor the next time they reached Pirelli, leaving Heather cursing – especially when Dovi tried to sneak by as well. Putting a block on her other teammate, Heather followed Jorge to the line, giving him a half-side hug on the way by as she headed to parc ferme. 

As she reached parc ferme, she could see her team whooping and shouting already, her engineer much like Jorge’s Juanito already wearing the 2nd place hat backwards, and she hopped off the bike and ran to jump into her crew, feeling them tossing her up and down in the air several times before she was put back on her feet again.

It was then she saw Eric appear and she tugged him closer, a slight smile on her lips as she reminded him, “You promised.” His eyes dancing, he laughed and in the next second their lips were mashed together, a string of cameras going off in the background, and live TV broadcasting the kiss to the world. When they finally separated, Heather leaned her forehead against Eric’s and whispered to him again, “Thank you. For everything.”

Running his fingertips along Heather’s cheek, Eric just gave her a brilliant smile, before instructing her, “Go do your thing. I’ll be right here waiting for you.”


	18. PMS on Crack

In Heather’s eyes, there was nothing quite comparable to walking up surrounded by Eric, feeling his face against her shoulder or neck, his arms wrapped possessively around whatever body part was closest. There was many a morning where Heather delayed getting up not because she was still tired, but she wanted to have at least a good start to her days.

Her days were becoming more difficult as Eric continued to ween her off the meds, and now she was down to just 2 a day, and to say she was irritable would be an understatement. Yvette, after witnessing one of Heather’s workout tirades, had compared it to “PMS on Crack” and the label stuck – it was so true that Heather was even eating junk foods and other things clearly on her ‘no’ list.

But in the mornings she felt more human, more relaxed, more…everything. She attributed that to the hot man in the bed beside her and tested her boundaries with him more and more each day. On this day, Heather was rubbing Eric’s hardness through his boxer briefs, one hand wrapping around him through the thin cloth while the other cupped his balls.

He woke up moaning, as he’d become prone to do and just watched Heather in action for a few minutes before pulling her closer and palming her chest through her t-shirt, lips seeking out hers as tongues battled for shared spaces in each other mouths. With one hand still palming her breast, Eric used the other hand to slide down and cup Heather’s most intimate parts, thumb dragging over her nub back and forth, leaving her bucking towards his hand as he did the same towards hers.

Kissing Eric more possessively if possible, Heather kept stroking him, kept touching him, kept doing anything she could to make the low growly moans slide from his lips, only caring about Eric in that moment, and his pleasure.

Eric certainly was not slouching either, dragging his thumb across a nipple while he continued to rub his hand against her, making Heather growl into his mouth as she shifted to climb on top of him, still fully dressed, and rubbed herself against him, rutting against him.

“Oh goddddd Errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrric…” Heather moaned next to his ear and he panted heavily in response, being driven to the very edge of losing his mind by the goddess rocking and pressing into him. “Let go…” She whispered to him when she could feel him shivering for control and he cried out her name shortly thereafter, before immediately reaching between her legs to stroke faster, harder, trying to get her off as well. “Yes Eric, yes….” Heather whimpered, and she pressed hard into his hand as her back stiffened and her legs shook, closing her eyes momentarily to try and catch her breath.

“Good morning baby…” Eric whispered to her as he kissed along her face and closed eyes, finally nipping and sucking his way into Heather’s mouth, making her moan softly at the intimacy of it. Reaching her hands up to thread into his hair, Heather held him to the kiss until their lungs were bursting from lack of oxygen and only then pulled back, but only just enough to rest her forehead against his.

“Good morning, sexy…” She finally answered as a hand came down to cup his face, a thumb sliding across his cheek affectionately. “Did you sleep well?”

“Mmm, I did.” Eric responded before he nipped at her lower lip again, adding in a growlier voice, “But I woke up better.”

Laughing softly, Heather ran her hand along Eric’s boxer briefs, feeling him shiver at the touch and telling him “You’re all dirrrrrrrrrrrrty now. You need to go take a shower. I’d go with you, but I don’t think you’re ready for that yet...”

“Not yet…” Eric agreed as he slowly rolled them over so that he could climb off the bed and strip out of his clothes – with Heather watching – tossing them in the laundry before practically strutting to the bathroom, leaving Heather the one shivering in the bed.

Knowing that she too needed a shower once he was done, Heather instead pulled out her workout gear, determined to try and channel some of her frustrated energy into something positive, even though she knew her temper would rise as the day progressed.

But still, the mental picture of Eric walking naked to her bathroom? One helluva way to start her day!

~*~

“You’re not settling for anything less than parc ferme anymore, are you?” Dani asked as he watched Heather increase the weights she lifted while on the balance ball, eyes focused and just a touch of annoyance in them, not wanting to be bothered while she worked.

“They wouldn’t want me if I finished anywhere less.” Heather replied, switching to even heavier weights, even though they made her sway on the balance ball a little bit.

“Careful hon, you don’t need to hurt yourself to achieve your goals. We do it easily enough at our size anyways.” Dani reminded her and Heather just grunted at him.

“I’m not allowed to get hurt, because I’m not to be trusted with pain killers.” Heather snarked and Eric just sighed at her, the look on his face such a contrast from their morning activities.

“You keep finishing the way you are though, they’re gonna start considering you one of the aliens, too.”

“That’s fine with me, Ducati can handle 2 aliens just like Honda can.” Heather retorted, bouncing on her balance ball a bit as she stretched tired muscles out, finally discarding the weights and shifting back down into sit-ups.

Without her even asking, Eric started counting her sit-ups for her, letting Heather just focus on the crunch and the numbers floating by her head. She knew Eric was surprised when she exceeded 100, but she was determined to be the best, and to be the best, you had to beat the best. She finally stopped at 150, panting softly for breath and just laid on the balance ball for a few minutes before hopping off of it to do pushups, Eric seeming to already sense she was going to do 150 of these as well.

And so rather than do the 150 he expected, Heather continued on all the way to 200, her arms shaking by the time she hit the 180s, but not caring in the least. “Careful, baby.” Eric told her softly as he handed her a towel and a bottle of water, which she promptly emptied in several gulps. After wiping the sweat off her brow, she tossed the towel back at Eric, who tossed it into the facilities laundry bin. “Do you want more water?”

“Yes.” Heather answered shortly as she moved to the exercise bike to start a 5 kilometer simulated ride. She could feel Eric’s eyes on her as he watched her pace and after a few quiet moments he finally spoke up.

“You’re overextending yourself. You’re not going to be able to keep up that pace. Your muscles won’t let you…”

Just to defy him, Heather pushed harder, even knowing that he was probably right – after all he was the bicycle champion and she was just a MotoGP rider. And sure enough, by 2.5 kilometers in she was faltering, her pace falling off and the sweat dripping off of her brow again. Eric was wise enough not to tell her he told her so, but he did grab another towel and wiped off her brow for her before setting the water bottle within her reach.

Muscles aching, Heather pushed through the pain, determined to work out like a champion. If Jorge could bike for 10 kilometers, so could she. If he could run for 20, so could she. 

Heather was going to be a champion if it was the last thing she did.

~*~

With Eric out grocery shopping for both of them, Heather had ordered a pizza and had it delivered, hobbling slightly to the door on tired muscles before paying the delivery boy and bringing the pizza back inside to set on the table in front of the TV. Opening the box, she grabbed two pieces and settled on the couch, eyes drifting shut as the grease dripped into her mouth along with the cheese, enjoying the rare (if should be nonexistent) treat.

She’d plowed through about half of the pizza when Eric arrived back and she got up to help him with the groceries as he gave her a kiss on entrance. “Why do you taste like pizza?”

“Because I ordered one.” Heather responded matter-of-factually. “There’s still about half of it left if you want some…”

“So much for your diet, yeah?” Eric asked as he nonetheless headed towards the kitchen to start unloading stuff, adding after a moment, “Guess I don’t need to cook tonight!”

Flipping him off, Heather dug through the bags, questioning after a moment, “Did you get me any chocolate??”

“No baby, it wasn’t on your food list, so I didn’t get any.” Eric responded, sounding somewhat remorseful when he saw the look on Heather’s face.

Sighing and dumping the bags onto the counter of her kitchen, Heather set about putting all the healthy food away, the protein pastas, the eggs, the turkey, all the stuff that normally was at the center of her diet.

“What do you say we finish the rest of the pizza and watch a movie or something?” Eric asked as he helped her put away the last few items.

Managing a sincere smile at that – the idea of curling up with Eric _always_ appealing – Heather nodded her agreement, teasing him, “Why don’t you pick a nice scary movie so you’ll end up with me squealing on your lap half the time?”

“Tempting, very tempting.” Eric teased back before he reached for Heather and pulled the other closer, surprising her as he kissed her slowly, tenderly, no preamble to it, just a kiss that made them both breathless and left them leaning their foreheads against each other. When they finally pulled back a bit, Eric asked her, “Bike day tomorrow?”

Thinking about it for a moment, Heather nodded, adding, “So long as we kind find some place to pick up chocolate on the way, I’m golden with that.”

Eric palmed his face at that but he didn’t stop smiling, because Heather was smiling too, and that was a rare treat these days.


	19. Girlfriend

Lying on the couch in her motorcoach with her head on Eric’s lap, Heather yawned softly, media day at Misano long over and they now were just killing time until they went to bed. Heather could feel Eric’s fingers sliding through her hair and she purred occasionally, completely content for the time being.

“Baby?” Eric questioned as his fingers still for the moment and he gazed down to lock eyes with Heather, her shivering from the intensity of his look. “Would you go out with me?”

Glancing briefly at the clock and realizing they still had plenty of time before they should go to bed, Heather replied easily, “Sure. But where are we going?”

“Not what I’m asking.” Eric replied as he leaned down to brush his lips against hers for a moment before pulling back again. “I’m asking if you’ll be my girlfriend.”

Gape mouthed and probably looking much like a fish out of water, Heather could only stare at Eric for the longest time. Here was the one thing she’d hoped for at it was finally coming to pass. Exhaling softly, she retorted back quietly. “Only if you’ll be my boyfriend.”

The smile she got back in response was enough to brighten up the entire room and Heather shifted, moving to climb on Eric’s lap and kiss him properly, feeling his body respond as she did so. Rocking against him just slightly just to get him hard, Eric swallowed hard and stuck his hands down the pockets of Heather’s jeans, holding her in close to him.

“I think we need a shower. Don’t you think we need a shower? We’re all … _diiiiiirty_.”

Moaning his agreement, Eric scooped Heather up into his arms as though she weighed nothing at all and brought her to the bedroom, depositing her on the edge of the bed as he went about stripping her, gentle hands pushing her t-shirt up even as thumbs dragged over her nipples on the way by. With it this time being it her moaning, Heather reached for Eric’s jeans, yanking him closer and then moving to undo them, letting him step out of them and just staring at his tented boxer briefs.

“You’re sure about this, yes?” Heather confirmed as she raised her eyes to Eric, and his only response was to easily undo her bra before pulling her to her feet to pop her out of her jeans, leaving her just in tiny lacy red panties.

“Oh yes.” Eric answered as he moved to push the panties down, feeling Heather push on his boxer briefs until both were having to step out of their underwear and were staring at each other in wonderment. Grabbing Heather by the hand, he led her to the bathroom and the tiny shower, stepping in first and waiting for her to follow. As he adjusted the taps, she finally did, but dropped immediately to her knees, wrapping her mouth loosely around his cock. “Oh fuck.”

“Later.” Heather whispered to him, as her hands came up to stroke his heavy ballsacs, her mouth moving rapidly over his hardening member, then teasing and rolling her tongue around his tip as Eric leaned heavily against the shower wall. When he started to warn her that he was getting close, she pulled back so only his tip was in her mouth as her hands slid over his hardness, so that when he did finally cum, it was all over her face and neck.

“Oh my god that’s hot.” He whispered breathlessly as he pulled Heather up from her knees and kissed her hard, a thumb sliding over her face to scoop up the errant cum and when she was looking directly at him, he sucked his thumb into his mouth and cleaned it, licking his lips afterwards. “Don’t think you get all the fun, baby…s’my turn now…” Eric growled and he pinned Heather back against the shower wall as the water cascaded over them, one big hand sliding down between her legs to part them and immediately grabbing for her sensitive nub, tugging on it lightly as he slid down her body enough to take one of her breasts in his mouth, teasing and tormenting the nipple with his teeth.

“Oh god,” She whispered as she rocked against his hand, feeling him slide two fingers inside of her as she gasped, muscles immediately tightening around the intruding digits.

“C’mon sexy baby…let me hear you scream. Let the entire coach lot hear you scream.” Eric urged her on and Heather just gasped over and over again until finally she was screaming out Eric’s name, the open window at the top of the bathroom ensuring that anyone who did wander by knew that Eric was making Heather scream.

Leaning against him, almost collapsing against him, Heather wrapped her arms around Eric’s neck and just clung to him, forehead leaning against his as the now colder water still fell around them. “I love you.” She whispered against his neck. “I have for a long time. I just hope I can be the girlfriend you deserve.”

“I love you too baby, and I’ve forgiven you for everything. Now I just need you too much to let go. So I won’t. You’re mine now…”

“There’s no one else’s I’d rather be.” Heather retorted softly as she just let her eyes drift shut.

~*~

They’d decided to go out dancing to celebrate their first official night as a couple, and both had worn outfits that had the other all hot and bothered. Both in skin-tight jeans, Eric was wearing a bright orange t-shirt that accentuated his 6-pack, where Heather had gone for a clingy red number with a dipping neckline that left little to Eric’s imagination.

Though neither drank much by nature, both had enjoyed a few brews while they danced, leaving Heather glad they’d thought ahead to use a taxi rather than to use one of the rental cars. Neither were in any shape to drive, but they were definitely awake and aware, and wanting the other.

When they arrived back at the track, Eric grabbed Heather so that she was walking backwards in front of him, his hands stuffed down the back pockets of her jeans and tightly squeezing her ass. Moaning a little bit, she repeated the same procedure on him to the tune of the same response. Giggling a little bit, Heather asked in a slightly slurred voice, “Where are you leading me?”

“Home, baby.” Eric said as he nonetheless leaned her against his brother’s motorcoach, kissing her hard and sliding a hand up under her shirt to start to undo her bra.

“Oooooohhhhhh Eric..” Heather moaned, wishing for a way she could start undressing him before they got ‘home’, but instead just pressing her chest against his, telling him, “God you make me hot.”

As Eric pushed Heather back against Dani’s coach to kiss her possessively, the door swung open and his elder brother popped out, flicking his outside light on to illuminate the two lovers. “Hey, you two, get a room. No public sex in the coach lot!”

Looking at Eric with big green eyes (she’d worn mascara for the evening), Heather reached for the front of his jeans and whispered to him, “Take me home, big boy. I wanna ride you ‘til the break of dawn.”

With haste, Eric brought her back to her (theirs!) own motorcoach and the process of stripping each other out of clothes began at the door and continued all the way back to the bedroom, where Heather finally shimmied out of her tiny red lace panties. Thinking – and wet enough – that she was immediately going for a ‘ride’, she was a bit surprised when Eric picked her up and put her on the edge of the bed, dropping down to his knees to better be able to eat her out, his tongue flicking and swirling over her nub as she shivered hard.

With no preamble Eric stuck 2 fingers inside of her, purr-growling at her, “So wet for me already. Do you know how hot that makes me feel?”

“You make me that hot...” Heather responded with a gasp, gripping his fingers with her muscles and trying to push down against his mouth, Eric eventually having to shift a hand up to grab a hold of her hips to try and keep her still. His mouth and fingers switching spots, he twisted and squeezed her clit while his tongue pumped in and out of her like a tiny wet cock. “Close.” Heather gasped as she still tried to ride his face, and Eric only increased his pace.

Within another few moments, Heather was screaming out Eric’s name once more, oblivious to her open bedroom window – or the other open windows on nearby coaches (like Jorge’s). Legs shaking hard she just reached for Eric, pulling him in for a hungry, possessive kiss that left them both breathless. “So you want to ride me?”

“Just like my bike but better,” Heather told him as she let Eric climb onto the bed, his hard cock bobbing around as he did so. Laying down on the bed, Eric hit Heather with a ‘come hither’ look and she immediately went to him, sitting on his stomach and rubbing down against him, spreading her liquids over his taut muscles.

Leaning in for another hungry kiss, Heather lowered herself on top of Eric and gripped him tightly as soon as he was sheathed, moaning into his mouth at just how good and **tight** he felt. Starting to move her hips slowly, she could feel rather than hear Eric’s moan, and that just spurred her on to fuck him harder and faster, wanting to make him wild, even though she knew he had to be careful not to exert herself too much and make herself uncomfortable riding her ‘real’ bike.

And so Heather bounced up and down on Eric while he reached up to palm her breasts, grabbing her by the nipples and tugging her down as she squeaked a little bit and he then mouthed a breast, biting at a nipple and then soothing it with his tongue as Heather started shivering a bit. In response, Heather reached back behind herself and grabbed for Eric’s balls, tugging on them lightly and then stroking them, hearing him moan loudly at the touch.

Though Heather wanted to do fast and dirty, she kept slowing down the pace to make things more seductive, more intimate, and Eric kept moaning at her, over and over again as she brought him closer to the abyss. She briefly thought about climbing off of him and letting them flip so that he could jizz on her stomach and legs, but she knew she was clean and trusted he was as well – and she was on an IUD – so she decided it was worth it to feel him from the inside.

It took maybe another 5 minutes before Eric squeezed a breast and told her, “Close,” so she rode him harder finally, muscles tightening around him on every upward motion to pull him in deeper, until it was finally he too screaming out her name, his cum leaking out of her pussy as they slowly separated. “I’m not done with you yet.” He growled when he caught his breath and soon Heather found herself on her back, Eric re-sheathing himself inside of her and a hand coming down to rub and squeeze at her clit, making her buck and squeeze tight around his softening cock.

The second orgasm didn’t come quite as quickly as the first had, but it was no less powerful, Heather’s back arching and her legs shaking as she lost herself to Eric again, once more screaming his name. It was at this point that she pulled him on top of her, kissing him hard, possessively, before it settled into a more languid kiss, their hands finding each other on the bed and lacing together.

Soon enough, Heather was passing out against Eric and he reached for his phone, making sure Heather was properly covered before he snapped a shot of the two of them, posting it to Instagram.

_@ericpedrosa_ #shesallmine #loveher #beauty #buenosnoches #goodnight #verygoodnight


	20. Just Another Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There could be more added to this story, but for right now, this is the end. If you wanted more, you should have told me so, so I knew people were reading. But since I don't, I see no point in continuing an exercise in futility.

   
When morning came, Heather was still wrapped up tightly in Eric’s embrace, his head on her shoulder, and his hands like those of an octopus, seemingly everywhere at once to keep her physically close to him. Heather had woken up early, but had no desire to separate from him, so she just threaded her fingers into one of his hands and gave it a gentle squeeze.

But when she could hear someone knocking on the door, Heather slowly slid from Eric’s grasp, grabbing for his t-shirt and boxer briefs and throwing both on to answer the door with. She was only mildly surprised to find Jorge on the other side and she raised her brows at him, asking, “Can I help you with something at this early hour?”

“Nope, just checking in on you.” Jorge teased with a giant grin on his face. “You were screaming so much last night I wanted to make sure you were still alive.”

Blushing profusely at Jorge’s acknowledgment that he’d heard her screams of pleasure, Heather retorted back, “Trust me, I’m very alive.”

“Yes, I can see this.” Jorge told her as he looked her up and down, an eyebrow raised at her ensemble.

“What?” She asked with folded arms, eventually just sticking her tongue out at him. “His clothes were closer. Mine are still scattered out here.” And she waved her hand around to point out to Jorge the trail of clothes leading to the bedroom.

“Jeezus. You two really did have fun last night, didn’t you?”

“Uh-huh.” Heather said with a grin. “We even bounced off Dani’s motorcoach, made him come outside and yell at us like a parent at a couple of teenagers. Told us to get a room…” Giggling, Heather added, “So we did.”

It was at this point that Eric wandered into the room in another pair of boxer briefs alone and came up to Heather from behind, head on her shoulder again and arms wrapping possessively around her, one hand ending up splayed on her stomach. “Morning Lorenzo.”

“Pedrosa.” And as Jorge looked them up and down again, and the way that they looked at each other, he knew that Heather had finally found the missing piece from her life. That almost scared him a little bit because if she’d been _this good_ on the track to this point, what was she going to be like when everything was right in her world? Leaning closer to kiss Heather on the forehead, Jorge stepped back before Eric could swat him, telling them both. “I’ll tell hospitality to keep breakfast going for you two.”

Giving Jorge a lazy smile, Heather nodded before turning to kiss the scruff on Eric’s cheek, murmuring to them both, “We’ll eventually make a public appearance. Right now though, I think I want to curl up in your arms again…”

“My arms are claimed.” Jorge teased and this time it was Eric flipping him off before he turned Heather closer to him and nipped at her lip, just a teasing little bite to make her sigh happily. “Okay, okay, I’m going. Sheesh you two. Get a room!”

“We will when you shoo.” Heather teased, and Jorge just laughed, letting himself out as Heather turned more in Eric’s arms, wrapping her arms around his neck. “Did you miss me or something, sexy?”

“Yeah, the bed was cold without you. Let’s go back and snuggle until we absolutely have to get up. I like having you in my arms.”

Making a happy little growling noise, Heather nudged Eric so that he moved back towards the bedroom again and didn’t stop moving until she was curled up in his arms once more. “There’s no place I’d rather be.” She whispered against his ear, and she felt him tighten his grasp on her.

As he leaned over her to set the alarm clock to a later hour, Heather just tucked her head under Eric’s chin and smiled, more at peace then she could ever recall being.

~*~

When the alarm finally went off some time later, Heather and Eric got dressed in proper clothes (Heather in Ducati livery) and made their way to Ducati hospitality, finding their meals had already been made and were just waiting for them. Looking around the room, Heather found Jorge holding court over all of the Ducati crews and she asked Eric, “Shall we go sit near them?”

“Doesn’t matter to me,” He responded as he made no effort to let go of her hand, the two eventually finding seats at a table _near_ the Ducati group but not a part of it. Settling in, they separated hands briefly to take the covers off their meals, then immediately re-grabbed hands once they were able.

“Heeeeey…it’s the lovebirds…good morning you guys…” Jorge called out, acting as though he’d not already seen them this morning. When both flipped him the bird with their free hands, he teasingly reminded them, “300 Euro fine for that!”

“Only if they catch us. Good morning Lorenzo.” And then as an evil grin crossed her face, she inquired innocently, “Sleep well?”

“More or less. Noisy neighbors though.” He retorted and Heather and Eric both laughed at that.

“Some things can’t be helped.” Eric responded as he put his fork down to use that hand to illustrate. “I mean look at her. But not too hard. She’s miiiiiiiiiiiine.”

Giving him an adoring look and a squeeze of their joined hands, she told the gathered Ducati bunch, “I think I’m the lucky one.”

“And I think all this sweetness is going to make me sick.” And at the immediate bird flips from Heather and Eric he chirped again, “Another 300 Euro!”

“You’re not getting any, Lorenzo.” Heather teased, then tilted her head a moment and silently wondered if that was the issue.

“Oh, I’m getting some just fine.” Jorge retorted. “I’m just more...stealthily…about it.”

‘Stealthily.’ Heather mouthed to Jorge and he just winked at her, leaving her to get the feeling she’d be hearing more about Jorge’s stealthily habits later.

~*~

Jorge’s and Heather’s ready rooms neighbored each other outside of Ducati hospitality, and though Heather was well aware she could have Eric come in with her and follow her into the garage, she was equally aware that if she got naked in front of him, there was really nothing to prevent him from making her scream.

And so she got dressed in her leathers quickly, coming out of her ready room about the time Jorge came out of his, and they climbed down their respective stairs. “So…stealthily?” Heather inquired as they began the longer walk to their garage.

“Keep his mouth occupied. One way or another.” Jorge gave her a cheeky little grin, eyes dancing and leaving much to her imagination, except for one thing.

“So you’re the top. I should have figured as much.” Heather murmured under her breath and Jorge nodded, appreciating her discretion.

Just about the time they reached their garages, a kid in all red snuck under the barriers and threw herself at Heather’s leg, causing her to stumble on that still not perfect foot and cuss under her breath. But turning and smiling, she shooed away the security guard and looked for parents to the munchkin, identifying them by their shocked faces.

“Photo?” She asked as she pantomimed the act, and eventually two phones were produced and she got down on her knee so that the child could hug her around the neck. Waiting for someone to come up with a Sharpie, she eventually signed the child’s shirt and escorted her back to her parents, nodding and smiling at their ‘grazie, grazie’ ‘s. Finding that Jorge had waited just inside the garage for her she shrugged at him and said, “Kids.”

“I’ve gotten jaded over the years, parents pushing their kids through the lines and such for pictures. I try to just walk straight ahead and not let them catch my eye.”

“Well you have been at this awhile, old man…” Heather teased and Jorge flipped her the bird, leading her to cackle and remind him, “300 Euro!” Limping a little bit, Heather added, “Little bugger made me step wrong though; foot doesn’t feel crunchy so I didn’t rebreak anything, but it’s not happy at me nonetheless.”

“Should go to Clinica.” Jorge responded.

“No, they’ll just want to give me pain killers. And that’s a big **NO**. Can’t be trusted, remember?” Heather said with just a trace of sarcasm. Giving her a look, Jorge just shook his head slightly, leading the two of them finally into their respective garage bays.

Finding Eric waiting for her in her chair, he looked her up and down and said, “You’re limping, what happened?”

A bit amazed by his astuteness, Heather told him, “Small child happened. Knocked me a bit off balance. Probably should go swing by Clinica, but don’t want to be given more pills…we’ll see how this practice session goes and go from there.”

Nodding his understanding and standing up, Eric swapped positions with Heather so that she could sit and debrief with her team before the first practice session of the day began at Misano.

~*~

By the time the first practice session ended, Heather was limping heavily, cursing under her breath, and leaning against Eric when they decided to head to Clinica. She’d changed into “street” clothes, and much to her chagrin her foot was nearly too swollen to fit into her shoes. “Geezus, what the fuck did I do?” Heather asked Eric and he just shrugged at her.

“I wouldn’t think tripping would be enough to do damage, but maybe it wasn’t as strong as we thought.”

Sighing when they finally reached Clinica, she was soon ushered in and under examination, with the initial diagnosis being that she’d sprained her ankle, that the muscles around where she’d had surgery simply weren’t strong enough to have been able to counter that unintended movement. “I guess I should have worked on strengthening my foot more.” Heather said with a sigh, and the Clinica physio just patted her on the shoulder.

“We’ll get you taped up, then since you’re declining pain killers, we’d suggest soaking your foot in a bucket of ice in a 20 minutes on, 40 minutes off, 20 minutes on pattern. That should lower the swelling and get you more comfortable again.”

“I guess we’re not going dancing tonight.” Heather said looking at Eric and he reached over to squeeze her hand.

“We’ll watch a movie or something, or maybe harass Jorge…”

Laughing at that, Heather took the hand crutches that were offered to her and let Eric lead her out of Clinica.

~*~

With her foot on a pillow on Eric’s lap, Heather’s eyes fluttered as the weight of the day started grinding down on her and she started getting sleepy. “Bed, baby?” Eric asked as Heather yawned and nodded, moving to reach for the hand crutches again. But before she could, Eric scooped her up easily, bringing her back to the bedroom, and setting her on the bed, telling her simply, “Let me take care of you.”

Relaxing back against the pillows, Heather lifted her arms and hips when Eric asked her too, letting him strip her down to nothing and when he went to grab for sleep clothes she told him, “No, not necessary. Let me sleep skin to skin to you…”

Eric looked her up and down and just smirked a little bit, licking his lips and telling her. “I just might make you scream again, you realize.”

“Mmm. That’s tempting.” Heather retorted as she reached for Eric, who quickly finished undressing himself and climbed into the bed with her. Shifting a bit closer to him, she whispered against his ear in a hot breath, “If I’m going to feel you, better do it while I’m still awake.”

“Oh trust me, I’ll keep you up.”

“I thought that was my job, keeping you ‘up’?” Heather teased as she ran a single finger along Eric’s cock, watching him shiver as she did so. In another moment Eric was sliding his fingers along her most private parts, getting her moist and ready to take him.

With no words and no preamble, Eric slid inside of her, sheathing himself fully, and just wrapping his arms tightly around Heather, barely rocking against her, just enough so that she could feel him inside of her. Grasping softly, Heather rested her forehead against Eric’s and kept her eyes open, staring into his eyes as he barely moved.

Moving her mouth to his, Heather kissed Eric languidly, fingers threading into his hair and holding him close, moaning softly into each other’s mouths as Heather tightened her muscles around Eric on his movements, both of them shivering against each other.

Neither were in any rush for things to end, so they just continued to barely move against each other, the night slowly drifting away.


	21. Misano

After a day of soaking her foot in ice at every opportunity (and getting carried around a lot by Eric!), Heather was feeling much better than she had been initially about her foot. She still declined the pain killers offered by Clinica, but did let them tape her up physio wise, so her foot felt stronger than it probably really was.

She’d qualified 6th, mostly due to her foot, and for whatever reason, Jorge had struggled and found himself back in 12th. Heather intended to get to the front as quickly as possible and hadn’t yet decided how she’d deal with Jorge if he arrived behind her. Let her teammate go and let him stack up more points towards the championship, or chase her own first win?

With Eric again serving as her brolly boy, it was taking much of Heather’s concentration just to get herself in race mode and not stare at the sexy man beside her. He did lean in to kiss her helmet before he left the track and under her helmet Heather smiled at that. Soon, the sighting lap was under way, and Heather got a good idea of the riders ‘starting skills’ in front of her. She’d have to get past Maverick, Valentino, Dovi, Dani and Marc in order to get to the front, and it was her teammate that she knew as always presented the greatest challenge.

When they came back to the line to start the race, Heather kept her eyes pegged on the lights, and nailed her start as soon as they went off. Easily dispatched were the Yamaha twins, And Dovi took a corner or two of out-braking but soon he was behind her as well. That just left the Honda Aliens in front of her, and she checked her board on the way by to see how far back Jorge was from her – he’d managed to climb up to 5th in the first lap. 

Cussing softly under her breath, Heather decided she didn’t want to worry about Jorge any longer and went to work on passing Dani, breathing down his neck and trying to force him into making a mistake – which after 4 laps he finally did, running the bike wide in Quecria, and giving her an option to scoot by. That left the littlest alien of them all, the one Heather enjoyed beating the most, because he too had initially had been one of the ones wary of her talent. And while he’d come around big time of late, Heather never forgot a slight, even a small one.

Whereas Heather was willing to race Dani perfectly fair and pass him clean (as she had), she didn’t feel that warm and cozy about Marc. Especially not with Jorge probably breathing down **her** neck! She kept lining him up at each and every corner, and he kept blocking her, knowing she wanted to get it in hard and deep.

Growling beneath her helmet, Heather showed Marc some of his own aggression and stood him up on her way past, fiercely blocking his attempt to get back around her. He continued trying to get after her for several turns before he started falling back, having worn out his tires and this time it was Heather cackling beneath her helmet. With nothing but clear track in front of her, she set a blistering pace in hopes of containing Jorge behind her.

But she knew her teammate, knew that there was no one better at the metronomic style that she was imitating, and as the laps ticked down to 3, she could hear another Ducati engine roaring behind her as he tried to chase her down. “No,” she whispered to herself as she tried to push even harder, ignoring the pain in her foot that she knew would be swollen to near balloon proportions by the time she finished.

Faster and faster still she pushed – this was her track after all, she’d tested at Misano enough times to know the track backwards and forwards – just focusing continually on hitting her marks. And as she did, the pit board showed her that she was increasing her gap again, that Jorge was falling off a bit and internally, Heather fist pumped.

With just a lap remaining – and her foot absolutely throbbing in agony by this point – Heather just counted down on making it through the corners: first Variante del Parco, then Rio, then Quecria, where she’d gotten Dani to run wide; Next Tramonto, Curvone, and Carro. And then finally it was the Misano corner and the start finish line, and setting a new record for the performance by a woman rider, Heather crossed the line first, not realizing just how narrowly she’d beaten her factory compatriot.

She got a half-hug from Jorge on his way by, and another from Dovi on his, and then she just slowed the bike down and tried to soak up the atmosphere. Yes, the crowd was a sea of yellow, but there was always another sea of red of Ducati fans at Italian races and they were fanatically waving their flags and supporting her.

As she continued, a Marshall beckoned her over with an American flag that she quickly grabbed, her pride in winning for that flag so massive. This would be the first time the American national anthem played at a MotoGP race since Nicky had won ages ago, and much like he had when he’d won his championship, Heather had tears streaming down her face.

Carrying the flag and continuing her slow journey, Heather eventually made it to parc ferme, handing the flag to her engineer and just lowering her head into her hands once they removed her helmet. Swallowing hard, she climbed off the bike, limping heavily over to her crew and made it clear to them only one person would suffice, and soon she was in Eric’s arms, feeling him kiss away the tears and whisper to her, “I’m so proud of you baby. So proud. You kicked their asses today.”

Calming a little safe in his arms, Heather just leaned her forehead against his before finally signaling her crew it was okay to ‘attack’, and she was unceremoniously tugged over the barrier and tossed into the air several times before setting her back on her feet, Heather wobbling a little bit and asking her crew, “Did anyone bring my arm crutches?”

Someone went off to run and get them while Heather finally got the winners hat on her head and her new sponsor – Tag Heuer – on her wrist – when she felt a tap on her shoulder and found Jorge there grinning at her. Throwing herself in his arms – as much to let him support her weight as out of genuine happiness, Heather practically snuggled the older rider, listening to him tease her, “I can’t believe you beat me, you little pain in my ass.”

Laughing, and tears finally stopping falling, Heather gave him one more tight hug than accepted the arm crutches as they were passed over to her, leaning her weight into them and watching as Jorge did his English interview with the MotoGP videopass crew, knowing she’d be next. So distracted was she that she never felt Marc’s hand settle on her shoulder initially until she turned her head and saw him there. “Congrats. That’s the first of many I’m sure.”

Smiling at the young defending champ, Heather gave him a hug too before she was swinging herself over to be interviewed, not even really remembering the interview, just remember after that grabbing the American Flag again and raising it high to swing from side to side. Handing it over to Eric, she gave him one quick sharp kiss before letting herself be led up to the rostrum, watching as first Marc and then Jorge were introduced and finally her name was called. Swinging herself on the crutches, Jorge gave her a hand to get on the top step and she threw her arms triumphantly up in the air, before settling the crutches in behind her and waiting for her trophy. Heather clapped loudly and whistled when Jorge got his trophy, his general perception in Italy changing with the switch in factories so that he was getting much more support.

Finally, it was her turn and she raised the trophy high in the air before kissing it, then setting it down beside her, being careful not to put too much weight on her painful foot. All too soon the American anthem was playing and the tears streaked down her cheeks again, not knowing enough to realize she’d done exactly what Nicky Hayden had done on his first MotoGP win in Laguna.

When the anthem was over, she threw her sunglasses back on and accepted her bottle of Cava, trying to hobble and hide behind Marc to protect herself from Jorge, but they both decided to zero in on her and she got drenched. Drinking some of the Cava and then tapping bottles with the boys, Heather put the bottle down beside the trophy, grabbing her Monster water battle and showing it off as they took the victory photos.

Rather than going straight to the media room, Heather requested and was granted the opportunity to go to Clinica, to see what was going on with her foot. And this time, they did an x-ray and found a small non-displaced fracture – which explained everything. “This is one of those that should heal with time, and since you’re not racing again for a while – right? – it should be able to heal on its own with a boot.” Sliding her foot back into one of the familiar boots, she let them tighten it up and then found Eric waiting for her outside, and she took advantage of the opportunity to give him a languid kiss, tears starting to trickle again even with his closeness.

“I’ve got you baby. You were amazing today. We’re gonna hafta celebrate later.” Eric whispered against her ear as she shivered slightly then directed his attention to the boot.

“We’ll have to be careful of that. Non-displaced fracture. Annoying, but explains all the pain, the swelling.”

All too soon, Heather was being directed back to the media scrum, answering questions so many times she wasn’t even sure what she was saying anymore. Eventually she was pulled into the post-race press conference, still in her leathers, minus a racing boot and having acquired the CAM boot. One of the first questions was directed at her and the boot.

“So Heather, what’s with the boot and crutches?”

“We thought I’d sprained my ankle a few days ago, but it looks like I actually have a small bone fracture instead. So since I’m not supposed to race again until Valencia,” And here she paused to look at Jorge to make sure it was safe to ‘announce’ that, “the boot goes on until probably then.”

“So you won your first race was a fracture in your foot?”

Managing a bit of a smirk at that, Heather agreed, “Yes, yes, I did. I don’t think I could do it again, but today was the right day for it, I guess, and here I am.” As the remainder of the questions were directed primarily at Jorge, Heather had time to check the timing and scoring sheets and realize she’d beaten Jorge to the line by nearly two seconds. And when the media had no additional questions, she leaned over and asked him, “Were you catching me near the end or was that my imagination?”

“Your imagination, hon. You’d run away from the field.”

Shaking her head at the absurdity of the day – all of it, from broken foot to race winning – Heather just stuck around the media room to answer as many questions as she possibly could. She knew that once she got done, Eric would be waiting for her.

And that made her very happy indeed.


	22. Family Matters

After an extra day in Italy to go to the local hospital and ensure there was no need for surgery on her foot, Heather bought plane tickets for herself and Eric to fly ‘home’ to Boston for at least a few days. She wanted Eric to meet her parents, of course, but also her brothers – especially Teddy. And so they left out of Bologna at almost 11 am local time and flew over the ocean, arriving in Boston at 3:30 pm local time.

To say their bodies were confused was an understatement. But once Heather waited for Eric to get through customs and he grabbed her bag for her – letting her just manhandle the hand crutches alone, they ‘walked’ to where her mother was waiting and gave her a big hug, Eric properly introducing himself with a tight hug and kisses to both cheeks of her mother.

“Can we head to Teddy’s place before we go home?” Heather asked her mother as she cuddled in the backseat with Eric, shifting around to try and give her CAM boot some room.

“Sure, I haven’t heard from him in a few days and you know how unusual that is, so we’ll see what he’s up to.” Frowning a little bit at her mother’s words, Heather nonetheless gave Eric a soft kiss, a hand coming up to cradle his mouth until a soft cough from the front of the car reminded them. “I can see you two.”

“We weren’t doing anything – just kissing.” Heather mildly protested and her mother just gave her one of those parental looks that had Heather sighing and Eric laughing at her. “Oh hush you, I’ll so be laughing at you when you bring me to your parents and your Momma does the same thing to you!”

Eric just snuck a quick kiss from Heather and laced his hand into hers, waiting for them for teach Teddy’s apartment. Soon enough they were there, and the first thing that Heather noticed on hobbling inside was that it seemed cold. “Why is it so cold in here?” Eric asked, and Heather was then certain that something was up with the heat.

“Dunno…Momma, why don’t you go track down Teddy, Eric and I can check out the thermostat.” And while her mother went off to check on her brother, Heather found the thermostat to be set around 55 F, meaning it was warmer outside than it was in the apartment. “What the fuck?” She inquired as she stared at it and after a moment she headed towards Teddy’s kitchen, finding a stack of bills sitting on the table. “Where the hell is his roommate? This kind of stuff is his responsibility.”

“Moved out.” Her mother said as she came into the room with a sickly looking Teddy. “Sit down, sweetie, let’s see about getting some soup into you…”

“How long have you been living alone, Teddy?” Heather asked him and he ducked his head a bit, shivering slightly before answering.

“About a month I think.”

“And did you pay any bills?”

“I don’t know how.” He responded remorsefully, looking at Heather with sad eyes.

“You don’t have a check book I imagine…” And when Teddy shook his head no, Heather gave her mother a mild glare for not arranging that. “It’s okay, Teddy. I’ll take care of you, of this. We’ll get everything turned back on again, and set up so that you won’t have to worry about it again. And I’ll give you a special phone that you can use to call me at any time, so that if something like this DOES happen again, all you need to do is reach out to me and I’ll fix it for you.” Looking at Eric, she added to him softer, “That means I might need you to jump in and help if I’m on the bike or otherwise preoccupied…”

Leaning closer to kiss Heather’s forehead, Eric murmured at her, “Like you honestly think that would be a problem? I’d do anything for you, for your family.”

Giving him a grateful smile, she affectionately ruffled Teddy’s hair, earning her a light swat in return and she reached down to hug him, telling him soft against his ear, “I’ll always look out for you, Teddy. Never forget that.”

“I know, Heather. I know.” And looking at the stack of bills, he licked his lips and sighed softly, asked her, “Will you help me take care of those?”

“Yes sweetie. You’ve got an online banking account, we’ll set it up with all of your creditors to take the bills right out of your bank account so you don’t even have to worry about it.” And looking again at Eric, she murmured under her breath in low Spanish, “Y voy a añadir dinero a su cuenta bancaria.”

Eric looked at her in surprise at the Spanish, not realizing that MotoGP had been giving her a crash course in Spanish so that she could talk to more media. Answering softly, he told her in English. “You’re a good sister.”

Her mouth easing up into a quirked smile, Heather told him simply, “I try. He’s my brother, I love him.”

~*~

With Teddy at one side of her and Eric at the other (and holding her free hand), Heather made call after call to Teddy’s creditors, having to put him on the phone at the beginning of each call, and having him read a speech about wanting them to talk to his sister, instead, did they need special permission from him? And usually they made him provide the last 4 of his social security number or his address or birthday and then they let Heather talk.

And so creditor by creditor, Heather not only took care of setting the bills to come out of the bank account, but also having each bill electronically sent to her main email address. This way she could review the bills, and if something looked off, she could have it taken care of. It took a while to get through all the various creditors, but finally they were done, just as Heather and Teddy’s older brother, Alex entered the family home with his girlfriend.

Asking Eric softly to take Teddy to the other room, Heather hobbled to her feet and said to Alex, “A word with you alone, brother, if you would.”

He stared at her but nodded, sending his girlfriend onward to the kitchen and then asking in a tone laced with attitude, “What?”

Growling low, Heather asked him, “Did you know our brother was living in an apartment building with no heat? That his caretaker moved out and left him to pay bills on his own? Where were you when this was happening??”

“It’s not my job to take care of him,” Alex started before Heather took a hobbling step towards him and gave him a shove, eyes dark like jade and gleaming dangerously.

“It is too your job, you’re his fucking brother! You’re supposed to care for him and look out for him, because he can’t always look out for himself. And you’re the one who lives barely 5 miles away, it shouldn’t be that difficult for you to give him a fucking call once a week or so and ask him how he’s doing and if he needs anything. Instead, me, the one living in fucking Switzerland is taking care of all of his bills and his other needs…tell me Alex, where is the logic there?”

“God, you’re a spoiled rotten brat…” And again he only got those few words out before Heather gave him another shove, practically balancing herself on her one good foot to do so. “Proving my point.” He said as he shoved her back and she yowled immediately, of course landing on the foot she was trying to protect.

Doubling over and before she could even get a word out, Eric barreled into the room, eyes as dark and dangerous as Heather’s had been previously and snarling at Alex, “What the fuck did you do to her?” 

Beckoning Eric closer and leaning her weight heavily against him, she told him, “Tengo que ir al hospital,” as Alex peered on in confusion. “Oí un crujido.” Eyes still dark and dangerous, Eric eyed Alex, looking like he was of a good mind to beat him up royally, but Heather dragged her fingers along Eric’s cheek, whispering to him, “Not worth it, not right now.”

Scooping Heather up easily, Eric brought her to the kitchen, her mother standing there with wide, shocked eyes at the sight in front of her. “Can I borrow your car, ma’am? Your daughter needs to see a Doctor. Again.” Quickly the keys were handed over and Heather took them, sighing and letting Eric carry her out to the car. “I’m going to kill your brother.” He finally told her when they were in the car, and again, Heather shook her head no.

“He’s not worth it. He’s an arrogant son of a bitch, he’s jealous of me that I’m more successful then him and I still manage to find a way to look out after Teddy when he can’t be bothered. He’s your classic oldest child, the world has done him wrong, and everything was so much easier on me. Which is bullshit, but it’s the way he thinks.”

Following Heather’s directions to the nearest walk-in urgent care clinic, Eric again carried Heather inside, where she went through insurance rigmarole, and eventually was allowed to sit, waiting with Eric maybe 5 minutes before her name was called and Eric carried her back to the room.

Explaining to the Doctor who greeted her, she told him, “Got into a shoving match with my older brother. Not the swiftest move on my behalf. He shoved, I landed on the foot that’s already got a non-displaced fracture and I heard something else crunch. So I either broke that bone worse, or broke another one…”

Nodding at the explanation, the Doctor told her, “Let’s get you into x-ray to see what’s going on in your foot.” And soon enough she was on a table, her CAM boot off and her foot already swollen as they lined up shots to take x-rays. Reading the x-rays after they were completed, he confirmed Heather’s suspicion, telling her, “You broke the bone next to the one you already had broken. I’d recommend surgery to bolt everything back together.”

Staring at Eric, she asked the Doctor, “Can it wait for a week? Then I can see the expert Doctor in my profession when I’m in Spain.”

“Yeah, just wear your CAM boot, and try to stay off of it. Do you have crutches?”

“Yeah, hand crutches, but my boyfriend decided carrying me everywhere was easier.” And Heather gave Eric an affectionate look at that, reaching towards him to draw her fingers down his cheek. But shaking her head slightly at the whole mess, she said to Eric, “Guess I call Dr. Mir, get plans made for more metal to be put back in. He’ll take good care of me.”

“And I’ll take good care of you in the meanwhile.” Eric told her.

Beckoning him closer, Heather gave Eric a soft kiss, while the Doctor just looked on and smiled at them.

~*~

It had been a long day for the two jet lagged lovers by the time they made it back to Heather’s apartment, skipping out on whatever might be going on upstairs and just wanting to be close to each other and get some sleep.

Quietly, carefully, Eric stripped Heather out of her clothes, being extra mindful of the CAM boot, and kissing up her body once he had her completely naked. “Do you want to…?” He asked, as he looked her up and down, it quite obvious by looking at him what his preference would be.

“Mmm yeah. I think feeling you would make me feel a lot better. Or at least distract me from the rest of this shit.” Dark, hungry eyes looking her over, Eric made a show of stripping as Heather watched, his hardness popping out of his boxer briefs as he just stood there for a moment in one of his model poses, letting her look him over before she whispered, “Fuck I’m so lucky…”

“I feel like the lucky one.” Eric responded as he climbed onto the bed with her and rubbed his cock against her clit, both of them shivering at the intimacy of the action. With Heather already mostly wet from just the thought, the view of her naked lover, it took little teasing from Eric to loosen her up enough to take him.

Sliding inside her slowly, Heather just wrapped her arms around Eric’s neck, forehead against forehead, mouth to mouth, every inch of their bodies touching each other somewhere. Tightening her muscles around him, they barely moved against each other, just the close feeling of intimacy enough for them in the moment.

Happy ending to the day? No doubt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y voy a añadir dinero a su cuenta bancaria - And I will add money to his account.  
> Tengo que ir al hospital - I have to go to the hospital.  
> Oí un crujido - I heard a crunch.


	23. Independence

Waking up a bit…sticky…after a night of activities with Eric was never something that Heather would object to. It only meant she had to sneak into the shower by herself once she awakened, or she’d never get “clean” because they’d not be able to resist each other long enough to behave. This morning though, after pulling out of Eric’s grasp and rolling to stand on the boot, Heather managed only a soft whimper before Eric was drawing himself out of sleep, sitting up to gaze at her. “I can’t even put weight on this stupid thing.” She told him with a frustrated sigh. “I’m going to need your help in the shower, but at least this one is bigger than the motorcoach.”

Nodding as he wiped the sleep out of his eyes, Eric crawled past Heather, giving her a soft kiss on the way by and then stood to take her in his arms. Leaning her head against his shoulder, Heather let her eyes drift shut momentarily, telling Eric again, “I love you.”

“Love you too baby…and oooh…a bench. You didn’t mention that.”

Quirking a smile in Eric’s direction, she told him, “I never use it, that’s why. I normally take a shower like a normal person, standing on my own two feet, with water cascading over my head. Not using all these convoluted body sprays and shit like that.”

Laughing softly at her, Eric, adjusted the taps and asked her, “Think you can manage to balance on one foot with your arms around my neck while I wash you?” On Heather’s nod, Eric kneeled in front of her so she could wrap her arms around his neck and then stood slowly, carefully walk/hopping them back into the waterfall spray. “I suppose you’d also like me to behave this morning seeing as you were trying to sneak off when I woke up?”

“Yes please.” Heather said with a bit of a sigh. “Not that I don’t want to but I want to check on Teddy, make sure yesterday’s dramas didn’t adversely affect him and then go from there. I’d also like to show you around Boston, but we gotta make sure we get my foot’s swelling down enough to get the boot on comfortably…”

Running sudsy hands along her body, Eric rested his forehead against hers, telling her, “Foot might need a break – no pun intended – before walking too much. If we don’t go adventuring this trip, there’s always the off-season. I’m sure you’ll want to come home for the holidays, right?”

“Right, and we’ve got one in November called Thanksgiving…so I’d love to bring you home to that, plus we celebrate Christmas like you celebrate 3 Kings Day so…we can split between here and Barcelona for that, right?”

“Sounds like a plan.” And Eric lowered Heather back down to the bench again to scrub the rest of her body, spending only trivial time on her more intimate parts in order to show her he wasn’t going to defy her request. Once she was completely sudsy, he carried her back to the waterfall showerhead again, giving her a slow kiss while waiting for the water to wash things away.

“You’re so good to me…” Heather whispered against his lips, eyes fluttering closed again.

Nuzzling her face, Eric reminded her simply, “I love you.”

To that, Heather just made a low but happy growly noise.

~*~

Upstairs after the shower and getting dressed – but unable to get the CAM boot on due to the swelling of the foot – Heather found herself sitting at her parents’ kitchen table using her mother’s dishpan to soak her foot in ice. Eric sat on one side of her while Teddy set on the other, their mother journeying in and out of the room as she did her normal cleaning and what not.

“Are you upset at having me for a brother?” Teddy asked softly and Heather jerked her head in his direction, just staring at him for the longest time.

“No sweet boy, I absolutely am not upset at having you for a brother. I was upset yesterday that Alex wasn’t doing a better job helping you when you need it. He’s your brother too, he should be there when you need him.” Heather answered him just as softly as she reached for one of his hands, stroking it gently and then giving it a squeeze.

“And for what it’s worth, I’m not upset that Heather has you as a brother, either. She loves you, and that’s all that matters to me. Anything I can ever do to help you too, I will.” Eric added in quietly, as Heather’s mom stopped her cleaning momentarily no doubt in surprise at Eric’s words.

“What have you been eating since your roommate moved out?” Heather questioned Teddy and he looked down slightly.

Admitting to her after a moment, he told her, “Food from work. The stuff they’d otherwise have to throw away.”

Groaning slightly at that, Heather looked up at her mother and sighed, telling her, “I see two options here. We either need to teach Teddy to cook some basic meals for himself, or you guys need to be inviting him over for dinner nightly.”

“Or maybe a combination of the two.” Her mother replied. “Family dinner nights on non-work nights, and maybe we go shopping for a crock pot or something to help Teddy make his own meals. How does that sound to you, baby boy?”

“I…think…I can handle that.” Teddy answered softly. “Will there be directions for me to follow?”

“We can make sure of that,” Heather assured him, again reaching out to ruffle his hair as she pulled her foot out of the bucket and this time was able to put the CAM bot back on, sighing in mild relief. “With a crock pot, you can just start the food before you go to work, leave it on low, and come home to a fully cooked meal…”

“That sounds good. But what about getting food?”

“We can go grocery shopping together when I come by to drop off your laundry, how about that?” Their mother questioned and Teddy immediately nodded his head.

“Do you have a credit card or a debit card, Teddy?” Heather asked, as her brother looked at her in confusion. Turning her head to their mother, she raised an eyebrow, silently asking the same question.

“He should have a debit card, but a credit card wouldn’t be a bad idea, to establish a credit rating for him.” Their mother answered and Heather nodded.

“Do you know your pin for your debit card, Teddy?” And when he shook his head, she told him, “It’s probably the last 4 of your social security number, and you remember that, right?”

“6632!” He said instantly, with some pride, and Heather reached over to give him a high-five.

“Good. We’ll see about getting you a credit card, and maybe we can go out shopping for cooking supplies today. What do you think about that, Mom?”

“Sounds like a plan to me. You sure you’re going to be up for walking around?”

“That’s what I’ve got the crutches for. And if push comes to shove I can always get one of those electronic carts and ride around in it…” Heather responded as she tried to put a little pressure on that foot and winced immediately at doing so.

“You are so stubborn.” Eric said while making a tsk noise and Teddy giggled a bit at the two of them. Heather was a mind of flipping Eric off but she knew her mother would make a comment and she didn’t really want to be teaching those type of things to Teddy.

Instead Heather just leaned closer like she was going to give Eric a kiss and licked his cheek while he huffed in displeasure.

~*~

It took a trip to Danvers – the next town over – to get to a Wal-Mart big enough to carry both food items and kitchen gadgetry. Heather knew she’d be spending a small fortune on this day on her brother, but she didn’t care. She’d had a $750,000 base salary this last season (unheard of for ‘just a test rider’), and $50,000 sponsorship deals with Skull Rider and Tag Heuer. More than that though, Heather knew she’d only pick up more sponsors now that she was set to be the full time rider next to Jorge in 2018.

They’d found one of the electronic carts in the Wal-Mart and Heather drove it around while her mother pushed a cart, Heather’s crutches in the seat alongside of her. They had a lot of shopping to do – storage containers, kitchen accessories (like measuring cups and a scale), to things like small kitchen appliances like the crockpot. 

Eric did the vast majority of the grabbing of things from shelves, though whenever there was the option, Teddy was given the choice of color. So far he’d gone for a very colorful kitchen, with not a thing matching! But that was Heather’s Teddy, and part of why she loved him so very much, and if crazy colors were what he wanted, then crazy colors were what he got.

Aisle by aisle they shopped through the store, realizing that Teddy didn’t own his own vacuum, one was added to the purchase pile for him. It wasn’t one of those big Dyson’s or anything like that, but it would at least allow him to keep up a presentable apartment and clean up after himself. The only purchase Heather made for herself also came while wondering the aisles – a label maker so that they could help Teddy identify the items he’d acquired.

When they finally finished on that side of the store – with Eric now pushing the heavier cart – they moved over to the grocery section of the store, letting their Mother select things for Teddy to try cooking, like spaghetti and meatballs for his crockpot. With those items going in the cart in the front of Heather’s electronic cart, they were packed to the gills full of things.

Finally, they moved to pay for and exit the store, Heather impressed by the number she managed to spend, but still looking over at Eric and teasing him, “You made me spend more than this on that bike!”

“I don’t recall **making** you buy it, sweet cheeks, you did that _allllllll_ on your own!” Eric retorted as he easily avoided her swat but followed her as she went to return the cart, helping her to her feet and letting her adjust herself on the crutches. Beckoning him closer silently, Heather gave him a soft kiss and they both smiled at each other, still just very much in the honeymoon phase of things.

It was a good thing her Mom drove an SUV, because they were going to need it to get everything over to Teddy’s place!


	24. Lisfranc

After a brief wakeup in the recovery room to answer what the date was, and how many fingers she had, Heather had been snoozing away in her private room. It wasn’t until she felt the bed drop a bit and arms curled around her that she roused, shocked and a bit disconcerted until realizing that it was Eric who was pulling her in close.

“Sorry baby, didn’t mean to wake you. Probably a good thing though, Dr. Mir is coming back shortly and he’s got a lot to talk to you about.” The look on Eric’s face wasn’t the cheeriest and Heather wondered what the renowned Doctor had found wrong with her foot. Her foot, that incidentally, was casted up to her shin and currently in traction, she noted.

Turning herself and her attention to Eric, she gave him a slow kiss, just letting herself get lost in him for the time being until a light cough at the door signaled that they had company – Dr. Mir had returned. “Hola Heather. I’m glad you came to me. You had major problems with your foot.”

“I did?” She asked with upraised eyebrows, thinking that she’d only gone in to have a plate and 5 screws put back into her foot.

“Si. You had what is called a Lisfranc fracture. You were starting to suffer from compartment syndrome in your foot as well. Had we not caught that, the tissue damage would have given you arthritis. I’m still not certain we caught it in time, as it has been a few days since the break.”

“Compartment syndrome…that sounds familiar…wait…arm pump! So you’re telling me I had something like arm pump going on in my foot.” And even with the Doctor there, Heather couldn’t help herself, she adjusted the angle of the bed and snuggled into Eric more.

“In the most basic of terms, yes. But these Lisfranc fractures are along the Lisfranc joint in your foot. I’d need to see the x-rays to confirm, but it sounds like your first fracture was also one – which was why you were so susceptible to this one. We gave you a steroid injection into your foot which should help, and as I said, did the compartment surgery. I’m not going to outright rule you out of Valencia, but you are going to need to get cleared, probably after a practice run, to see if you can withstand the pain to run the race.”

“Am I always going to be in pain?” Heather asked, as the Doctor seemed to look at her in some pity.

“That I can’t not accurately answer,” He told her. “We don’t know if we’ve done enough to prevent the arthritis from forming in your foot, or bone spurs from forming, or anything else. Only time and your pain threshold will be able to answer that.”

Sighing softly, she looked over at Eric and he just kissed her quietly for a moment before resting his forehead against hers. “So how long am I here?”

“You’re free to go once you can eat something and hold it down, and have proper bodily functions.”

“Mmm. Back in your parent’s place with this cast. Awesome. Speaking of that…how long do I need the cast on?” Heather questioned as she eyed the unwieldly plaster.

“Come back in a week and we’ll take it off and see about putting you in a better CAM boot, okay?”

Sighing and shaking her head, Heather looked at Eric again. “Stairs to your bedroom in your parent’s place, right?”

“Yep.” He answered with a sigh. “Which means carrying you – not an issue – but also trying to avoid hitting that cast on anything. And those stairways are narrow. Unless we pull out the sofa in the living room and crash on it.”

Checking to make sure Dr. Mir had left, Heather nuzzled closer to Eric and whispered low against his ear, “Which would make it difficult to have _filthy_ play time, wouldn’t it?” He went crimson and she laughed, threading her hands in his hair and just holding him close for the longest time.

“Don’t tempt me, baby. If I wasn’t afraid of nurses popping in and out, I’d get you screaming right here.”

Heather shivered at Eric’s words, and the accompanying smirk on his face and gave him a more aggressive kiss to kiss that smirk right off his face. Nipping on his lower lip, Heather let her tongue sweep through his mouth, loving the taste and feel of him so close.

When they finally broke the kiss it was due to coughing again – this time a nurse with a menu that Heather immediately handed to Eric since it was entirely in Spanish. But he wouldn’t let her get away with that and pointed out there were plenty of words she knew on there, including pollo y arroz which was what she ultimately settled on.

She hoped the food came soon because she wanted nothing more than to be curled up with Eric without the risk of constant interruptions.

~*~

While Heather had gotten minimally fussed on at her parent’s house, at Eric’s parent’s, it was an entirely different story. Basilia, his mother, had taken immediate pity on the attractive girl on the crutches and had sent her off to the living room to prop her foot up, while directing Antonio, her husband, as well as Eric, were sent off to take care of various tasks.

With it inching ever closer to bedtime, Heather expected Eric’s parents to head on upstairs and leave them downstairs, but so far, they continued to hover nearby, as though waiting for Heather to request something. When Eric finally moved over in her direction, Heather shifted to make room for him but instead he scooped her up into his arms again and nodded to his parents, who promptly came over and turned the couch into a sleeper sofa. Readjusting Heather’s pillows while Eric still had her in his arms, his mother get everything set back up again and then watched Eric like a hawk as he lowered Heather back to the couch.

“You are okay, si? You do not need anything else?” His mother asked and Heather shot her a brilliant smile, shaking her head to the negative. “Okay good. Is late, we are going to bed. Come Antonio.” And within the moment both parents were gone, leaving the young lovers alone to their own devices. But before Heather could pull Eric down to snuggle closer to him, he backed away, a small grin on his face.

“Be right back.” He told Heather and he tromped up the stairs seemingly 3 at a time before he came back down, calling out to her, “Close your eyes!”

She obliged and did so, and as he returned, she felt something…furry…being placed on her lap and opening her eyes she found a white puppy that looked like it could have been an Akita. “Oh my god it’s so cute!” She squealed, as Eric grinned at her, total cat eating canary look on his face. “Is it ours?”

“Yes, she’s ours.” Eric told her with that same grin on his face, bringing his hand down to pet the dog and getting licked in return. “She doesn’t have a name yet, I figured I’d let you decide.”

“She looks like an Akita, is she?” Heather asked as she ran her hand along soft puppy fur, getting a face full of happy dog in return.

“Could be, picked her up at a local rescue. They weren’t sure what she was.”

“Hand me my phone, will you please?” Heather asked Eric, who grabbed the phone off the table that had been moved to make the sofa bed. Searching through websites, Heather found one that listed possible names for Akita’s and their Japanese meanings. Looking the dog up and down, and smiling a silly little grin, Heather asked Eric, “How does Sanyu sound to you? It means Happiness in Japanese.”

“That sounds perfect. Do you like that Sanyu?” And the dog barked, leading both new pet parents to try and shush the pup, which only made it bark more, eventually leaving Heather rolled over on her side giggling so hard she could barely breathe. “I’ve got piddle pads, and traveling food and water bowls, everything we should need to get her back to Switzerland with us when we go.”

“Mmm. There’s just the matter of getting to Switzerland when the time comes. At least it won’t be with the cast, but I’ll have some sort of CAM boot. And I don’t want Sanyu here flying as cargo.” Glancing at her watch, she fired off a quick WhatsApp message to Jorge, seeing if he could assist.

**Johnson:** Good morning hot stuff. What are you up to this fine morning?

**Lorenzo:** What do you need?

**Johnson:** LOL, I can’t just flirt with you in the morning?

**Lorenzo:** Not with our respective boyfriends right beside us (at least I’m sure that’s the case on your end, it definitely is on mine!). So what’s up?

**Johnson:** Had to have to bigger surgery than expected on the foot, dealing with something called a Lisfranc fracture, they’re worried about future arthritis and chronic pain and all that happy horse shit. But that’s not the only reason I’m pinging you. _See attached image_

**Lorenzo:** That dog is way cuter then Tino was. Does it have a name?

**Johnson:** Sanyu. Japanese for Happiness. Fitting, yes?

**Lorenzo:** Yes. But I’m betting between the dog and your last surgery, you’re looking to borrow my plane to get you home. Am I close?

**Johnson:** You’re actually in Japan, you’re not close at all. ;) Kidding, kidding. But yeah, I’d be happy to cover gas or pilot’s fees or whatever you usually have to pay when you fly. It’s going to be a couple of days here in greater Barcelona, we’re sticking around until the cast comes off.

**Lorenzo:** Consider it done. Just WhatsApp or call me when you have more info and I’ll alert the pilots to be on standby.

**Johnson:** I  <3 you.

**Lorenzo:** No, you  <3 Eric, but I appreciate the sentiment. Now if you’ll excuse me, now that I’m up, I’ve got a Rookie of the Year to wake up. *maniacal laugh*

Cackling herself, Heather sent Jorge one last message before tossing the phone over to Eric.

**Johnson:** Thanks big brother  <3 … I owe you one.

While Eric set the phone aside, Heather told him, “We’re all set whenever we need to go. Jorge’s plane will be available to us. And I think we just ensured that Rinsy is going to have a very good morning indeed.” Heather giggled as Eric joined in.

“What’s say we have a good night?” Eric asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

“I like the way you think.” Heather told him and leaned in for a kiss, only to be slobbered on by the puppy, leading her to pull back and laugh. “This could prove problematic, if not hilarious.”

Carefully, Eric picked the puppy off the bed and carried her back upstairs, coming down with a bed for her to sleep in that they put near the edge of ‘their’ bed. “There, hopefully that solves that problem. Now where were we? Ah yes...”

And Eric leaned in to kiss Heather tenderly, and this time, there was no puppy interruptions.


	25. Homefront

With the aid of Jorge’s plane, it had been a quick flight from Barcelona to Geneva. Heather was now in a shorter CAM boot, one that was better designed to support her breaks and protect her from future breaks. She still couldn’t really put weight on the foot, which she expected meant getting up the 3 flights of stairs to her apartment was going to be a challenge, because she had no intention of letting Eric carry her.

Sanyu had proven to be an absolute lovebug of a dog, cuddling up with both of them equally, and perhaps equally important for the sake of future flights, had figured out the piddle pads fairly quickly as well. She was a curious dog, sticking her nose into everything, which meant that they’d both woken up to cold dog noses on bare skin already.

Once they reached Geneva, they ordered a taxi, with Eric carrying their baggage into the trunk of the taxi and Heather hobbling with her crutches into the backseat, letting Eric retrieve Sanyu and her leash. Heather was afraid of trying to walk Sanyu at this point, afraid the exuberant puppy would try and jerk away from her, which would knock her off balance – a perilous option with the still broken foot.

After a relatively short ride, they were back at Heather’s apartment, which was quickly becoming _their_ apartment, and Eric set about retrieving the bags and the dog all at once, leaving Heather to pay for the trip and then try and get herself up the stairs. Starting at the bottom and staring her way up, she ultimately decided to sit down and pull herself up the stairs one by one, keeping weight off foot that way.

It was a slow process, and when she was perhaps halfway up the stairs, Eric came back down again and asked, “Will you let me carry you the rest of the way?”

“No,” Heather said stubbornly. “I’ve got to figure out how to do this on my own for as long as I can’t put pressure on that foot. Even if it takes me all damn day, I need to be able to do this myself…”

“Stubborn.” Eric chided gently as he leaned over to give her forehead a kiss and grab her crutches, telling her, “I’ll leave these at the top step for you so you don’t have to keep dragging them at least.”

Knowing she was being a bit of a cranky bitch, in part due to the fact that all she had for ‘painkillers’ was heavy duty strength ibuprofen, Heather called after Eric as he stated to walk away. “Eric?” And as he turned to face her, she told him sincerely, “Thank you, love.” He smiled at her and continued up the stairs, her not realizing he intended to wait at the top step for her anyways.

It took the better part of a half hour, but eventually Heather had reached the steps at her apartment level and sighed softly in relief, and finding Eric standing there waiting for her, she blew him a kiss. “Will you let me carry you in the apartment now,” He asked and on her nod, he leaned down and easily scooped her up, letting her grab the crutches so that she’d be able to walk once inside. But he didn’t stop at the door and carried her all the way back to their bedroom, where Sanyu was lying on the floor and wagged her tail happily at their arrival. Setting Heather gently on the bed, Eric said, “Let’s work on sorting the clothes out of our bags so we’ll be able to do laundry…”

Nodding her agreement, Heather caught her bag when Eric tossed it to her and set it beside her on the bed, pulling out the underwear balled near the top and giggled a bit, tossing them at Eric and telling him, “Definitely dirty. Just like you.”

“Just like me, huh? As I recall, you’re the one who jerked me off on my parent’s sofa bed while they slept upstairs...dirty girl.” But Eric’s eyes danced the entire time he spoke and it was clear he’d enjoyed the experience as much as she had.

“What they don’t know won’t hurt them.” Heather grinned as she continued digging through her bag, pulling her makeup and toiletry bags out and setting them aside. Eventually she had her bag empty and had a small pile of ‘still clean’ clothes, or clothes that at least hadn’t been worn enough to warrant washing. When Eric went to gather up the ‘dirties’ to set up a load of laundry, Heather grabbed his arm and shook her head slightly, telling him, “Later.”

“Later?” He questioned, tilting his head slightly at her.

“Yeah, later. Right now, I just want to cuddle with you and the pup and we can worry about that later. We’re home, let’s enjoy it, ya?” And nodding his head as he scooped up the puppy and put her on the bed with them, Eric climbed into the bed alongside Heather, pulling her in close and letting her tuck her head beneath his chin. “I love our little family.”

She couldn’t see it, but Eric positively beamed at her words.

~*~

“Eric?”

“Yeah?” He responded as he sat up a little bit and pulled Heather along so that they were still cuddling but more vertical than they’d been previously.

“What do you think about renting or buying a house or a flat somewhere around here. One or two stories, max…some place for you and me and Sanyu to live without having to worry about 10 million flights of stairs…” Heather trailed off and just sort of gave Eric a shy little smile, nervous about the question and his answer as well, realizing that she was all but asking him to move in with her.

“I think I’d like that, but can we afford it? Stuff around here isn’t cheap…”

“You’re forgetting my salary is going to bump up big time for the next season, didn’t you?” Heather inquired, as Eric looked on at her with a single upraised eyebrow. “Or did you just not know?”

“I don’t recall us having any conversations about your salary, to be honest.”

“Oh.” Heather said softly, biting lightly on her lower lip. “Well, I’m set to go from what was $750,000 US to 5 Million US. I can’t afford anything gigantic or all epic like Jorge has in Lugano, but a nice small house for the two of us and our puppy? Based on what I’ve looked at and seen, it’s doable…”

“Jesus…” Eric gaped at her. “You’re going to be making more than Dani does!”

“I know.” She said softly. “And I’m not sure I deserve it at this point, but Playmaker did some excellent negotiations on my behalf and I certainly wasn’t going to say no when they offered me that contract.”

“Oh baby…you deserve it…and don’t let anyone else tell you otherwise. The stuff you’ve done this season…I mean you **won** a race as a part-time testing rider…that just doesn’t happen. Ducati is smart to lock you in now before you start really racking up the wins and challenging for the championship…” Eric reassured her, one of his hands moving to stroke through her hair.

Turning to lean into Eric and give him a kiss, Heather just got lost in the emotion of it, shivering a bit when Eric tugged her closer, practically on his lap. When they finally broke for air, Heather closed her eyes and whispered against Eric’s lips, “Will you move in with me? Full time? I know you practically live here now but I’d love for it to be permanent…”

“Like you really have to ask, baby?” And Eric gave her another lung-searing kiss, his hands holding onto the back of her head to hold her to the kiss, both of them panting heavily for breath once they parted.

“Just…needed to make sure.” Heather whispered as she curled up closer to Eric, practically rolling on top of him – quite a feat with her bad foot still propped up on top of some extra pillows.

“I would follow you anywhere, baby. I promise you that.” Eric told her and Heather felt her eyes starting to leak at the emotion of it all. Once again Eric stroked his hands through her hair, trying to quietly calm her, to reassure her, but she just shivered against him and made small little sniffling noises.

“I love you Eric. So much.” And she relaxed into another kiss as Eric whispered the words back to her, the two of them once more losing themselves into each other.

~*~

After a few hours spent just cuddling and kissing and touching and otherwise being close to each other, Heather finally sighed and told Eric, “I think it’s time we get up. Need to feed the pup, she might need to go outside to do her business…plus I think I want to do a Periscope.”

“A Periscope, huh? Any particular reason?” Eric inquired, even though he didn’t have a Twitter account.

“Just want to let the fans ask questions, show off this place, show off the pup, and especially show you off…” Heather said with a bit of a grin.

Flexing a little bit just to tease her and make her swoon, Eric teased back, “Show me off, eh? You make me sound like a slab of meat...”

“I like your slab of meat.” Heather retorted quickly and they both busted out laughing even though Eric’s face went slightly crimson. “I’ll give you a reminder post-Periscope just how much I like your slab of meat if you’d like…”

Giving her a wicked little grin of his own even though his face was still red, Eric told her, “You’re on, baby. Better get that Periscope going and over with so that I don’t maul you and have my wicked ways with you…”

Heather giggled at Eric and gave him a soft kiss before moving to roll away from him, carefully shifting herself to the edge of the bed. Reaching for her crutches and then slowly edging herself to her feet, Heather murmured at Eric, “Why don’t you take care of Sanyu and I’ll take care of the laundry before I launch myself.”

“You sure you’ll be able to handle it?”

“Yeah, I’ll just kick the basket along with my good foot.” Heather replied matter-of-factually, as Eric nodded and climbed to his feet as well, scooping the puppy off the bed, and snapping the leash on her collar.

“We’ll be back shortly.” Eric told her, leaning in for a kiss before moving to exit the apartment, Heather making the slow, unconventional walk to the laundry room before finally reaching it and getting the first load going.

With that done, she sent out the alert on Twitter that she’d be having a periscope in 10 minutes and then sat back and waited, knowing Eric would be back shortly with Sanyu. And sure enough, just as she was about to launch her periscope, in they came, the pup trotting around like she owned the place, much to Heather’s amusement.

“C’mere.” Heather instructed Eric and he willingly obliged, moving to sit alongside her on the couch, and, after gazing at her foot boot, tilted his head slightly.

“Want me to get you some pillows for that?”

“Sure.” She responded as she started up the Periscope, surprised at how quickly the numbers jumped of people wanting to watch and/or talk to her. “Hola, hello!” She greeted her ‘gathered crowd’ and told them, “Welcome to my apartment,” as she directed the camera around the room, catching Eric as he came back in with pillows.

Off of someone’s “Who’s that?” question, she answered, “That’s Eric. Eric Pedrosa. My boyfriend and the best thing that ever happened to me. Yes, better than the racing too. I know someday I’ll have days without racing, but I don’t want to spend any days without him if I can help it.”

And as Eric went crimson again, Heather beckoned him over, switching the camera view to front-facing and resting her head on his shoulder. “How long have we been together?” Heather read off the screen before turning to face Eric and raising an eyebrow at him. “How long have we been in love with each other, how long have we been dating...hmm...which to answer?”

Tilting her phone slightly so he could be seen, he answered, “Well, I don’t know about her, but it was love at first sight for me. I waited, sometimes less patiently than others, for her to feel the same way. And here we are.” Heather went crimson immediately, but she grabbed Eric’s free hand with her own, giving it a squeeze.

A moment later though, Heather was chuckling when she saw a question from Jorge fly through, asking about the condition of his plane.

“Yes teammate, your plane is fine, there were no puppy piddles or anything like that. Speaking of that, meet Sanyu, everyone…” And Heather flipped the camera back around to the rear camera to show the puppy slumbering across their laps. And at the collective awww’s, she added, “Eric picked her out, I think he’s got good taste.”

Eric snorted at that, grabbing her phone to swap the camera back front again and telling them all, “I know I’ve got good taste. I’ve got Heather. Now if you’ll excuse me/us…” And he leaned in to give Heather a hot, open-mouthed kiss, tongue sweeping through her mouth as Heather grabbed for the phone and disconnected Periscope, whispering against Eric’s lips, “You’re so bad.”

Nudging the puppy out of the way and slipping his arms under Heather, Eric could only smirk and tell her simply, “You make me this way.”

Laughing even as she nuzzled his shoulder, Heather told him teasingly, “Never change, Eric. Never change…”


	26. Finding Home

Wandering around her apartment (and limping heavily while doing so, despite the boot), Heather spent most of her time in the kitchen while Eric watched her. The flyaways were finally over and Heather had invited Dani and Yvette over for dinner, figuring it would be easier to enjoy their company when she didn’t have to navigate stairs.

Every time she stepped wrong and winced she could hear Eric sighing at her, not daring to voice his opinion (he’d already gotten snapped at for doing so), and just quietly moving her crutches closer to her, which she largely ignored. He did try to do his best to help out in the kitchen as well, and at one point after he’d flipped the fish, Heather grabbed him and pulled him into a kiss, though she could feel his initial reluctance before he relaxed into her touch.

“I know what I’m doing.” She murmured, resting her forehead against his and he just sighed again, bringing his hands up to stroke through her hair silently for the longest time.

“I just wish you weren’t being so stubborn. No one is going to think less of you for needing the crutches, y’know. Especially not me. I know you’re tougher than I am.” Eric told her, moving his hands to her hips and carefully pulling her closer, one hand ending up settling on Heather’s ass.

“I don’t need them.” Heather retorted softly as she leaned in to kiss Eric, finding pursed lips meeting hers as he just shook his head slightly. “Fine. Be like that.” She grumbled as she pulled away, limping over to the door as their doorbell rang. Meanwhile, Eric moved to grab Sanyu to prevent her from trying to escape on the inspection of what was at the door. “Hey guys, nice to have you here.” Heather greeted Dani and Yvette, giving them hugs and kisses before gimping backwards to let them in.

“You look like you should still be on your crutches.” Dani noted immediately, and Heather just gave him a look before Eric piped up.

“No, I haven’t been talking to him about this. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to make sure that Sanyu does her business.” Eric said in a brusque voice, moving to edge past the lot of them with the hyperactive puppy bouncing along behind him.

Sighing, Heather watched him and shook her head before limping off to the kitchen again, hearing Dani say, “Seriously hon. You don’t need to be pushing yourself for our benefits.”

“I can overcook your fish, Pedrosa.” Heather retorted, and this time she had the elder Pedrosa sighing at her. Turning her attention to Yvette, she asked, “How are you? Glad to have him back, I bet…”

Yvette exchanged looks with Dani briefly before sliding into easy conversation with Heather, talking about anything but her foot or her obvious spat with Eric and soon enough it was Eric returning, letting Sanyu off the leash as soon as they were in the room. Listening to their conversation, and knowing Heather wouldn’t talk about her foot or it’s issues if it was the last thing she did, Eric redirected the conversation a bit, murmuring, “Have you talked to these two about house shopping yet?”

“No I hadn’t.” And Heather gazed at Eric a moment, holding his gaze, wondering if he’d still even want to follow her elsewhere, but instead on Yvette’s questioning glance, Heather explained, “We need a place of our own, with a garage, space for Sanyu to run around, and I’d prefer as few stairs as possible.”

“You know you won’t be able to buy a place here, right?” Dani pipped up and Heather turned to gaze at him with wide green eyes. “You’re not a Euro, you haven’t lived here for 5 years...there’s no chance they’d give you a permit to buy…”

“Well fuck.” Heather muttered, and Eric out of instinct came closer to her, settling his hands on her shoulders and massaging them gently.

“There’s still renting. And we’ve looked online at some pretty nice places that are easily in our price range…” Eric spoke softly and he had no way to realize that this time when Heather sighed, it was in relief that Eric still seemed to want to live with her.

Leaning back against Eric, subtly shifting some weight to him, Heather agreed, noting, “I’d need to get Playmaker in to do negotiations again, I’m no good at that…”

“I dunno about that, baby…I mean you convinced the bigwigs at Ferrari that your first playtoy from them not be a Ferrari but an Alfa Romeo.”

“Truuuuuuuuue.” Heather agreed, her head resting back against Eric’s shoulder as his arm came around to hook around her hip again, easily falling into comfortable behaviors despite their frustrations with each other. “What did you get for your first MotoGP win, Dani?”

“A Fireblade.”

“Fireblade…Fireblade…oh…one of the bikes!” Heather exclaimed and Dani looked at her curiously but nodded. Giving him a sheepish smile, she explained, “I never was supposed to be into bikes. But that simulator was cheaper than the NASCAR one so…it turned out to be a game changing decision.”

“I can’t imagine you in a racecar for whatever reason.” Eric told her, leaning closer to nip briefly at her neck before he continued, “Now you on a bike? That just seems natural. You just…fit…on that. It’s like it was designed with you in mind.”

“Love you too, bro.” Dani teased as Eric used his free hand to flip him off. “300 Euro. Haven’t you learned that yet?”

“I’m not a rider, I don’t have to pay those. Now if I did this…” And he grabbed Heather’s hand and manipulated her fingers to flip Dani off as she giggled, “That would be 300 Euro.”

Turning her back to Dani and Yvette a moment, Heather leaned up a kissed Eric tenderly, never realizing the relieved look the other 3 exchanged at her actions.

~*~

A few days after their visit with Dani and Yvette, Heather and Eric had some time to actually go out and look at apartments, planning on looking at several that all had several themes in common: ground level apartments that had yard space and a garage. They were traveling in Heather’s new car, starting with the furthest away, and most expensive. And despite Heather’s protests, her crutches were along for the ride with it raining outside. Eric had made her see reason that it wouldn’t be good for her to slip because of the wet and do more damage. And so she reluctantly agreed.

Arriving at the apartment and parking their car in the open lot, Heather looked around and told Eric, “I like this place already. It just feels homey…”

“Look at the size of the yard…I can see Sanyu romping around here, us relaxing on lawn chairs watching her…” Eric replied, sweeping his hands around at the expansive yard.

“If the inside is as good as the outside…” Heather started and Eric reached over and grabbed her hand, giving it a squeeze.

“…I know.”

Watching as Heather climbed out of the car with the crutches, Eric let out a small sigh of relief, relieved that she was taking them without a fight at this point. He eased out of his side of the sporty little car and grabbed the umbrella, holding it over top of both of them as they moved at Heather’s pace to meet the listing agent.

Looking him over with a smile, Heather told Eric, “You should have that shirt off if you’re gonna brolly, sexy.” He just laughed at her, but he did lean over to peck a kiss on her cheek. “Though I suppppppppppose I can let you get away with it this time. You’re still sexy with that shirt on…”

“I try.” Eric told her with a wink and Heather beamed a smile back at him, much to his continued relief.

Soon enough they were inside, and Heather just let out a low whistle, murmuring, “I love these floors...and a closet just inside the door is excellent for putting our jackets and such away…”

The listing agent started telling them more about the property but neither Heather nor Eric were really listening, both just taking in the apartment and exchanging looks and falling more and more in love with the apartment the more they toured it.

“I could see this as exercise room…” Eric said to Heather as they entered a room currently serving as a child’s bedroom. “And that other extra bedroom maybe as some sort of office for us?”

Nodding, Heather closed her eyes a moment, visualizing what Eric said and nodding again. “Yes, definitely. Then we could invite Dani over here to work out. Put a run out in the yard for Sanyu, and it’s perfect…”

“It’s going to be hard for the other places to beat this one, I think.”

“I think you’re right.”

~*~

Sitting in Brasserie Lipp Genève (the restaurant that Océane and her boyfriend had at least once worked at), Heather and Eric had the print outs of the listings spread out across the table. With one hand reaching across the table to play with Eric’s fingers, Heather told him, “I just keep going back to that first place we saw. I know it’s the most expensive, but it just felt **right**.”

“Should we call and put an offer in, or do you want to get in touch with Playmaker and let them do that? I just know that Dani said if we saw something we liked, to snap it up quick because properties don’t stay on the market long here…”

“Let’s put in a call to Playmaker…” Heather said, and reaching into her pocket she snared her phone, hitting the speed dial for Albert and explaining the situation to him, he promised to get in touch with the agent and see what he could work out. When they hung up, Heather grabbed for Eric’s hand and gave him a grin, telling him, “I think we’ve just settled on our first place together…”

“And I don’t think we could have picked a better place.” Eric replied as he squeezed Heather’s hand, just staring into her eyes for the longest time before leaning across the table to draw her into a soft kiss, Heather closing her eyes after a moment and just relaxing into his gentle touch.

Feeling eyes on them as they finally pulled apart, Heather turned and found Océane staring at her, though she quickly looked away when Heather caught her staring. Wrinkling her nose, Heather grabbed for her crutches and murmured at Eric, “We’re being watched by a twat. I think it’s time we leave. And I think we’ll need to figure out furniture and such for that apartment, assuming we get it.”

“That’s what Ikeas are for, right? And some of this can come out of my wallet too, ya know. You don’t have to pay for everything.”

At Eric’s words, Heather just quirked a happy smile. She knew she was tremendously lucky to have someone like him in her life.


	27. Shattered

It was finally Valencia weekend, with Jorge having the title all but wrapped up, with a 20-point lead over Dani, and Heather was excited to finally be able to _race_ again. It had been too long, and she was ready to **go**!

There were problems leading into Valencia, of course. Heather could now walk without the boot, but it was with a heavy limp. And the mere fact that she was doing that was causing much strife between her and Eric, with the later frustrated she was potentially damaging her foot more for a race she might not even be allowed to run.

Their relationship was definitely at a breaking point, with virtually all intimacy gone as long as Heather continued to stubbornly push with her foot. Eric often retreated to other rooms or long walks with Sanyu rather than dealing with her – in fact, they’d even brought Sanyu to the race in Valencia courtesy of Air Lorenzo.

They still shared a bed, and Eric still cuddled her in close but for anything beyond that, it just wasn’t there at the moment.

Finally, Friday arrived and Heather had her opportunity to both prove her merit and prove her health, since she was a conditional **fit** for the race as things stood. The practice session was meant to evaluate her pain tolerance and see if she could or should race on Sunday.

Taking the crutches and using them to ‘walk’ from her ready room to the team’s garage bay, Heather wasn’t surprised when Jorge fell in step beside her. “You know you don’t need to do this, right? You’ve got nothing to prove to anyone right now…everyone is already impressed as hell with you.”

“I’ve got to prove to myself I can do this. Because this pain may end up being the rest of my life, and if I want to make a career of this, I’ve got to be able to tolerate it…” Heather quietly retorted and Jorge just shook his head a bit.

“At the expense of the relationship you called the best thing that happened to you? Oh c’mon, don’t look so shocked…you rode on my plane, I could see that your stubbornness has pushed him away from you, that you’re in danger of losing him…and yet you’re still chasing after butterflies…” Jorge responded to her, ignoring her glare. “If you love him, you need to quit with the stubbornness, or you’re going to be alone again.”

With those words said, Jorge picked up his pace, knowing that Heather couldn’t keep up with him, and ducked into his garage, immediately getting into conversation with his team so Heather would look like an utter bitch if she tried to continue the conversation and chew him out. Growling softly to herself, she finally made it to her bay, flopping in her chair and just looking at her team, her bike.

Why could no one understand her need to do this, to prove that she wasn’t eternally damaged goods?

~*~

In a session that never saw Heather drop below 3rd, she did everything she could to keep her pain to herself, but as the session went on, that grew increasingly impossible. She had tears streaking down beneath her helmet as she finally brought the bike back in to her garage at session end, and she could see her team exchanging glances.

“How are you feeling?” Asked her crew chief as she settled in her chair, trying in vain to wipe the tears away.

Trying to make her voice steady, she told them, “Ok. I can do this. I can.”

Again the team exchanged glances with each other and she was surprised when Luigi Dall'Igna of all people came into her garage and looked over the situation. After a quiet conversation in Italian with the crew, he turned to Heather and told her, “I’m sorry Heather, but we’re going to withdraw your bike for your own safety. You’re obviously in a great deal of pain, and we need you for next season. This race is meaningless for you.”

She had brief thoughts about throwing a temper tantrum of epic proportions but instead just lowered her head into her hands and nodded, feeling her crew come around her to pat her lightly or otherwise just let her know they understood her frustration.

Tears trickling down her cheeks once more and head still buried in her hand, Heather was surprised when she felt an arm tug her up into a hug – one that she recognized immediately **wasn’t** Eric. Lifting her head, she found the hugger was Jorge and after a moment, she just shifted her head onto his shoulder, sniffling and asking him, “Why did you have to be right?”

“Why do you have to be so stubborn?” He asked softly as he scooped her up easily, one of her crew handing her the crutches as Jorge took her off to their respective ready rooms. “Change up, you and Eric need to fix your shit.” Jorge instructed and if Heather thought about arguing with him, he disappeared too quickly into his own ready room.

Sighing heavily, Heather walked the rest of the distance into the room, of a mind to throw the crutches in a corner, but having a feeling Jorge wouldn’t let her get away with that. Instead she slowly climbed out of her leathers, hanging them up to dry out as she looked at her swollen foot. Getting back into street clothes was a relatively easy process, just being careful to ease her jeans over the foot. It wasn’t too swollen for the boot at least, and she slid that on.

A few minutes after she finished changing, a knock came on her door, and she told Jorge, “Come in.” When he came in, she looked at him with sad eyes, murmuring, “I knew it would be you and not Eric…”

“You can still save that, stubborn ass.” Jorge retorted. “C’mon, lets head to your coach.”

Grabbing the crutches and feeling the tears start to fall again, Heather just let Jorge guide her to the coach, opening the door and holding it open so she could go inside. Looking up on going in, she found Eric sitting on the couch, petting up Sanyu and for one brief moment they locked eyes before she lowered hers again.

Eric just watched her, realizing even without Jorge’s sign language that Heather had been removed from her bike and after a moment he went to her, only to have her shove him back a bit, to his surprise.

“Stop that, dammit!” Jorge growled at her as he gave her a thwap on her shoulder, continuing to growl, “God only knows why he still wants to comfort you after the way you’ve been treating him, but you better let him!”

And it was those words that Heather looked up into Eric’s pained eyes and just nodded her head slightly, feeling those familiar arms encircle her and that was all it took for her to really break down, dropping the crutches and throwing her arms around his neck and just bawling. She could hear him trying to comfort her but she was almost past the point of being comforted, knowing she’d caused Eric so much strife and frustration over the last several weeks.

As Jorge let himself out, Heather felt Eric pick her up, carrying her to the bedroom of the coach and moving to lay down so that she could curl up on top of him, which she immediately did. She had no idea how long they lay like that, but knew it was long enough that bikes were long off the track and she couldn’t even hear them in the distance.

“I can’t even say I’m sorry, because that’s not good enough…” Heather whispered to him and the only response she got was a hand stroking through her hair. “I’ve screwed us up so badly, I don’t even know why you’d still want to be with me…”

“Stop that.” Eric told her gruffly, and it was then she looked up to see that he had tears in his eyes as well, which only made her heart hurt worse than it already did. “I’m here because I love you, because I knew beyond all the stubborn bravado, my Heather was in there somewhere. And I’ve been patient with you before…I can be patient again.”

“I don’t deserve you.”

“It’s not a matter of deserving or anything asinine like that, baby. It’s about love. And even as you’ve frustrated me nearly to the point of walking out, I couldn’t walk away…” Reaching to grab one of her hands and thread their fingers together, he whispered to her, “I love you Heather. I’ll tell you that ‘til I’m blue in the face. The rest of this…it’ll work itself out.”

“I love you…and I’m so sorry I hurt you.”

“I’m just as sorry you hurt yourself. They pulled you off the bike, didn’t they? I know you wouldn’t have pulled yourself…”

“Yeah…” Heather told him with a soft sigh. “I guess my pain tolerance isn’t as good as Jorge’s or your brother’s…”

“So stubborn.” Eric murmured as he nonetheless tilted her chin up to kiss her lightly, though pulling back when she went to lace her fingers into his hair. “Not yet, baby. Right now we just need to lay here and be with each other. Appreciate each other. Then maybe we can move back in the direction we were.”

Nodding her head and making no attempt to hide her tears, Heather just buried her face in Eric’s shoulder.

~*~

As they lay there, Eric slowly but surely worked out of Heather the real root of her issues, her stubbornness, her refusal to let go, and found that it had nothing to do with racing, period. No, Heather was still trying to prove Alex wrong, to prove to him and the world that she wasn’t the spoiled rotten brat that he’d said she was, that she worked her ass off for everything she had. That she deserved to be in this position, and that a little bit of pain wasn’t going to stop her, slow her down.

So every challenge from Eric – and everyone else for that matter – felt like a challenge from her brother, that she was only failing at life when no one else understood her motivation and got mad at her for it.

“I want to kill him even more.” Eric whispered into her hair and Heather just sighed.

Mumbling at him she said “I should have known I was good enough. You’ve told me enough, reassured me enough…and instead I’ve been a raging bitch to you.” Looking up at him and licking her lips slightly, she asked in a tiny voice, “Can I make it up to you?”

“Not if that involves you trying to get between my legs and think that’ll make everything better. Cuz it won’t. We can’t use sex to sugarcoat these issues…Look, I’m sorry that trying to impress your brother forced you into a stubborn repetitive hell, but you never thought about **US** in the meanwhile.”

“I don’t know how to fix this, us, then.” Heather whispered as she stared up at Eric.

“Time baby. We need time. I need to believe that ‘us’ is as important to you as it is to me. And when that day comes, we’ll be a lot better off. But it’s not right now, and it’s not going to be soon either. Just know that you have me, and won’t be losing me. But we have to work through this pain you caused.”

Sniffling but trying hold her head up high, Heather nodded, telling Eric, “Okay.” But she didn’t really get it, and the only voices she kept hearing in her head said she needed to send Eric away. And she wasn’t sure if that was for her own self-preservation at this point or his but she slid back from him on the bed, moved to the edge and told him softly, “I think right now though you need to go. Maybe to your brother’s coach. And take Sanyu with you. Us lying here together isn’t going to solve anything…”

He was shocked, she could see that much, but he grabbed for his bag and put a few things back into it before rising, leaning down to kiss the top of her head, his free hand dragging along her cheekbones. “I don’t agree with this…” Eric told her, but she didn’t budge from her spot and a few minutes later she heard the door open and close as he left. Getting up to lock the door behind him, she returned to the couch instead of the bed, just staring out the windows and watching him walk.

He wanted ‘his Heather’ back, but she didn’t even have the first clue who that was anymore.


	28. Testing

It had been an … interesting…few days for Heather. She’d not seen Eric or Sanyu since she sent them both away, and that was by her choice. She purposefully skipped out on Jorge’s title celebration party, knowing she could always claim later that he’d been too drunk to notice her there. Not that she didn’t want to be at the party – she did – but she couldn’t show up without Eric, and she didn’t know how to answer the questions that would be asked if she tried.

So instead, early morning before the testing was truly to start, Heather went to Clinica for a new prescription of pain killers, popping a few as she walked from their hauler to her ready room, having no intention of letting Casey steal her fun and get any testing in on her bike. And so when she came out of her ready room, it was no longer as Ducati test rider Heather Johnson, but as Ducati team rider Heather Johnson, race winner and future star of the sport.

Strolling into her garage in her leathers and boots – with no crutches or anything else, she surprised her crew when she sat in her chair and told them, “That bike better say 77 on it, because I’m going out there to test.”

There was much discussion about this in Italian, and Luigi again made an appearance, but Heather stood when she saw him and put her hands on her hips, getting in words before he could dismiss her away. “I’m here. What do I need to do to prove to you guys I’m ready? Dance a jig? I’ve spent 3 days with my foot in ice buckets and elevated and now I’m ready to go.”

“She is our rider for next season…” Luigi mused as Heather nodded at him. “It would be better to get data from her than Casey if possible…” And when Heather started to grin at that, he pointed a finger at her and shook it slightly, “But you are to come in when you start to feel pain. No pushing yourself to tears again, young lady!”

“Yes bossman.” Heather said smartly with that same grin on her face and he just shook her head, but as she watched, Casey’s 27 came off her bikes and her 77 was put back on in their place. “That’s right, that’s how it’s supposed to be.”

“So what am I doing, just sitting here looking pretty?” Casey inquired as he strolled into the garage as well and Heather laughed, a slightly hollow sound, but none of them close enough to her to recognize the difference.

“You’re coaching me, as you’ve always done. Cuz I’m still not going to be able to do full runs like everyone else, and I’m going to need your help. And you’ll probably need to make runs on there to verify what I’m feeling, and seeing, anyways.”

“Okay. Where’s the boyfriend, I’d have expected him here.” And for just the tiniest of seconds there was a crack to Heather’s tightly woven armor until the answer popped from her mouth.

“He’s with the dog.” Casey nodded as that made logical sense and they went back to collectively debriefing over the new bike, and its new design. Heather didn’t have to worry about Jorge showing up until the afternoon session, if at all on the day, so she wasn’t concerned on getting caught out on the meds or the lack of Eric.

~*~

They’d worked as a good pair during testing, Casey and Heather. She’d run 15 or so laps and then come in when her foot started to twinge, and she’d report to the team what she saw and felt and where she thought the bike could improve. Then they’d send Casey out to test Heather’s feelings, and found the two riders were nearly perfectly in sync with each other.

By the time lunchtime came around, Heather had ordered food to be delivered to her motorcoach, and she went and just relaxed in there to eat, again avoiding the opportunity for people to ask where Eric was. And as long as she did her job on the bike and tested to the best of her ability, no one would care to notice that she seemed off. Certainly not Casey, who she had been seemingly joking around with. And definitely not Jorge when he finally showed up, though he’d immediately questioned why she hadn’t made his party.

“I did,” She teased him, using the discussions she’d overheard from the team to describe the event and his bad English singing in detail and then telling him, “You were just too drunk to remember me. You were having the time of your life!”

Laughing, Jorge agreed, and that discussion was laid to rest, but she could see him looking on at her in surprise at her ease of walking – and with no crutches to be seen – but he didn’t spend too much time or thought on it, because he had his own 99 to put back on the clocks.

Popping a pill when no one was looking at her – making it look like she was just taking a swig out of her water bottle – Heather sighed slightly in relief when she could feel the numbing sensation start to overtake her. No pain in her foot, no pain in her heart. It was ten percent luck, twenty percent skill, fifteen percent concentrated power of will, five percent pleasure, fifty percent pain, and a hundred percent reason to remember her name. At least that what Fort Minor kept rapping in her headphones!

Finally, she was getting tapped on the shoulder to go back out again and Heather put her headphones aside as she climbed on the bike, off to make another series of 15 laps …or maybe longer if she felt like it.

Afterall, it was **her** bike!

~*~

Strolling back to her motorcoach with another hospitality dinner on order, Heather went straight into her coach and set about changing into more comfortable clothes – a t-shirt Eric had left behind and a pair of Eeyore sleep pants. As she finished pulling on the pants, she heard the doorbell ring and she thought about just calling the person in, but instead actually went to the door and was surprised to see Eric standing on the other side of the door.

Stepping back to let him in she just stared at him, trying to summon up words in her mind to question why he was there, what he wanted, anything more than the strangled “Hi” that left her lips.

“Hi yourself.” Eric said softly as he went in for a soft kiss but got rebuffed to a cheek. “Really? I just came to check on you, to see if you wanted to try and talk things through more…”

“What is there to talk about, Eric?” Heather asked as she folded her arms across her chest, easily falling into the stubborn stance, though her eyes wouldn’t meet his. “You don’t want me as long as I’m ‘like this’, whatever that means…”

He closed his eyes and muttered under his breath. “Stubborn, God you’re stubborn. Where is the remorse you were feeling the last time we talked?”

Heather just shrugged at him, even as she squeezed back at the urge to cry, telling him finally, “I don’t know what you want from me Eric. It’s probably better for you just to leave. Let me know if you’re flying back with Jorge, if you do, I’ll arrange alternative travel. And if you intend to stay at the apartment, let me know and I’ll just spend more time stateside than I planned…”

“So what is this, are we over?”

“You tell me Eric, you’re the one who doesn’t want me.” Heather growled back at him, feeling some rage slip past the numbness she otherwise felt, and using that to fuel her conversation with him. “I think it’s best that you leave.” She repeated, and this time, Eric just stared at her before moving to exit, nearly running over the poor girl from hospitality in the process. “Hi, sorry about that,” She greeted the girl as she took her food and gave her a tip.

Heading inside with the food, she set it on the counter and went back to her sponsor wear jeans, rifling through the pocket until she found her pill bottle, promptly throwing 2 back and then heading to the kitchen to wash them down. 

After all of that and she still didn’t know what Eric wanted from her. Sighing, she sent a WhatsApp message to Jorge, knowing he was probably going to get up in her shit over it, but she wasn’t sure she cared.

**Johnson:** Change of plans. I no longer need to travel Air Lorenzo. Thank you for the offer though.

**Lorenzo:** Oh? Not heading back to Geneva or…?

**Johnson:** Thinking about spending some time in the States before our private test in Jerez.

**Lorenzo:** That’ll cost you a pretty penny for you 3 to travel that much just for the testing.

**Johnson:** Necessary evil. Anyways, thank you big brother.  <3.

And really, Jorge didn’t think much of it until he got a WhatsApp message from Dani telling him that Eric and Sanyu would be flying the Team Repsol jet back to Geneva with him. But by that point, when he tried to send messages to Heather, she either was already asleep or ignoring him. He’d bet on the latter, but he’d have no way to prove it until morning.

She couldn’t avoid her teammate in the garages!


	29. Relapse

But if Jorge thought he was going to catch up with Heather the following morning – or any morning thereafter, really – the team shot down that theory when they let him know that Heather had elected to let Casey do the remainder of her testing while she took care of her foot. Everyone presumed she went state-side as she indicated she’d do.

But she didn’t.

Instead, Heather ended up at the W Hotel in Barcelona, in a suite that was costing her for 3 days just about her rent for a month in the new apartment. She never spent money like this though, so she allowed herself the luxury, spending most of the first day in Barcelona on a quick trip in to see Dr. Mir, and have her surgically repaired foot evaluated.

He was quick to tell her he didn’t like how much she’d been walking around on it – that she should still be in the boot and soaking her foot in ice buckets – but he acquiesced to her request of painkillers, and unknowingly doubled the amount she’d already acquired from Clinica. So when the day ended, she asked for the fancy hotel to come up with a bucket for her, suitable for soaking her foot in, and they responded with a fashionable plastic bucket, big enough for her foot, with the hotel’s logo on it, of course.

By the second day, she’d popped enough pills to be sufficiently numb again, staying in her room and keeping to herself as her phone rang with Eric’s tone. She knew she should have ignored it, ignored him, but the pull on her heart was too much and she answered softly, “Hello?” as though she didn’t know who was calling.

“Heather? It’s me…” Eric told her and then after a second he asked, “I’m worried about you, where are you?”

“I’d given some thought to heading state-side for a few days…” Heather answered roundabout, not giving him the answer he was seeking. She could hear him make a frustrated noise, and her only response to that was to pop another painkiller.

“But where are you now, baby? Please…”

“I’m in Barcelona, Eric. I saw Dr. Mir, he evaluated my foot again, I’m fine. I’m just trying to rest up before Jerez testing…”

“We need to talk, Heather.”

And Heather audibly snorted at that, the anger again managing to work through her emotional haze to snarl at him, “Why? So you can tell me I’m not what you want again?”

“You are everything that I want, Heather. I just can't deal with you pushing me away when you need me most. I can't deal with the helpless feeling...” After a few more ticks of silence, and with no response from Heather he added, “Let me in, baby...please…”

The still angry part of Heather didn’t want to let him in, felt she didn’t need or want his help to get ‘better’ but against her better judgment, her mouth spoke for her, telling him, “I’m in the W Barcelona. I’m in Suite 870.”

“I’ll take the next flight, baby. I’ll be there soon, I promise…” And as Eric hung up the phone on his end, Heather stared at it on hers, before staring at her pill bottle and taking one more. Best to take advantage of the pills and the numbness while she still could.

~*~

2 hours, a 40 Euro flight and a taxi trip later, Eric was standing at Heather’s door. But after a moment he dropped to his knees in front of it, reaching up to knock on the door, waiting for her to let him in. When the door finally swung open, he asked without looking up, “Are you going to let me in?”

Dropping to her knees as well, in a physical mirror of Eric, Heather just swallowed hard and asked him softly, “Do you want me?”

Reaching a big hand out and settling it on her knee, Eric whispered to her, “With every fiber of my soul. You are my everything.”

It took Heather several minutes before she responded, before she did anything, but eventually she was dropping a hand onto Eric’s, threading their fingers together wordlessly. He rose to his feet and before she could do the same he’d scooped her up, shutting the door behind them with his foot, as he silently sought her direction to lead him to the bedroom.

And the room…he couldn’t get over the massive room, the one bigger than their great room in their apartment – but their apartment didn’t have floor to ceiling windows with panoramic views, either! As they proceeded into the room he saw the bottle by the bed and almost dropped Heather from the shock of seeing it, but instead managed to lower her carefully onto it before taking it in his hands and examining it, his hands shaking quite a bit as he did so.

“Oh baby…not again…” He cried out, part of his heart shattering at knowing that she was choosing to mentally numb herself rather than dealing with it all.

Heather just looked up at him with sad but mostly empty eyes and Eric just tucked the pills in the back pocket of his jeans, then stood to start stripping out of his clothes, first kicking off his shoes and then stepping out of his pants and boxer briefs. Finally, he tossed his shirt aside and reached for Heather, sitting her up so he could repeat the same process on her. It only took a few moments to get her out of her jeans and t-shirt, and looking around, he found her boot and a bucket in the corner – at least she had been trying to take care of her foot, he mused.

With Heather lowered back to the bed, Eric went and grabbed her boot, carefully putting it back on her before joining her in the bed, pulling her in close so that they were touching near head to toe. “I love you.” He whispered in her ear. “I love you, I love you, I love you.” There was no emotional reaction to his words but Heather clung to him, wrapping her arms tightly around his back and sliding her leg between his, just trying to get as close to him as physically possible. “Do you love me, baby?” He asked soft against her ear, not sure he’d get a reaction, but hoping for one anyways.

Heather swallowed hard before even trying to answer, and despite the numbness that seemed to permeate from every inch of her body, tears started slowly trickling down her cheeks. “I love you Eric,” She whispered so softly he almost didn’t hear it, but he brought a big hand up to wipe away her tears.

First steps, Eric thought, and though he wasn’t sure she was with it or stable enough for the conversation, he pushed on through, letting her lean her cheek into one of his hands while his thumb kept swiping the tears away. “Do you understand that when you push me away, for whatever the reason you feel the need to do it, that it hurts me?”

Again, Heather swallowed hard and didn’t immediately answer, the tears the only sign that she was physically there with him in that moment. But eventually she brought up a hand to cover his, threading their fingers together again and whispering to him. “I understand now. I don’t know if I can stop doing it though…it’s ingrained in me as much as riding that bike is…”

Taking a deep breath, Eric nodded at her words, the brutal honesty of them in such a stark contrast to the tears, the largely empty look in her eyes. “We’ll work on it. Together. Everything we do, we’ll do together. We’re a team, Heather. You and me and Sanyu too.”

“Where is Sanyu?” Heather asked, a little more light filtering into her eyes at the mention of their puppy.

“She’s with Yvette right now. I wasn’t going to bring her as cargo even as short as the trip was. I know you wouldn’t have approved.” Eric nuzzled her face lightly as he spoke, brushing his lips over her forehead and being a bit surprised when she moved her face and caught his lips with his own, a small innocent kiss, but a kiss nonetheless.

“What are we going to do about us?” Heather asked him softly, and he stroked his free hand through her hair, giving her other hand a squeeze before he even tried to answer.

Finally, he went with honesty, as she had done, telling her, “I don’t know, baby. But I know we belong together, and that right now you clearly need me, even if you’re not so sure about that yourself.”

“I can handle testing.” Heather said with a bit of defiance, adding, “I need those pills to do it, but I can do my job…”

“I’ll make a deal with you,” Eric told her as he set them both up a little bit and then pulled her on top of him so that they were eye to eye. “I’ll give you those pills for Jerez, and then after that, we either wean you off of them again or find someplace to detox you properly…”

“You’ll trust me with them at Jerez?” Heather asked as she licked her lips, almost seemingly silently asking for another pill with the action.

“If you trust me to take care of you after Jerez. Together. As a team.” Eric retorted and Heather looked like she had serious issues coming to grips with that. Swallowing hard again, she finally agreed with a nod of her head and he whispered against her lips, “I’m proud of you baby, I know how hard this is for you.”

Perking up a little bit more, Heather even managed a slight smile before burrowing her face against Eric’s shoulder, sighing softly as though she still had the weight of the world on her shoulders. “Together.” She finally whispered. “Together we get through this.”

“And together we’ll learn to trust each other again. You are my soul. I’m not letting you go.”

This time, Heather could only manage to sniffle as Eric quietly comforted her.

They had a long road to go, but at least they had each other.


	30. Jerez

It was early morning of the Jerez test and Heather was definitely ‘off’, there was no two ways about it. She had been taking her pills steadily, to the point that Eric wondered if she’d need a refill from Clinica to finish the testing. But the ‘most fun’ part of the morning for Eric thus far had been stealing Heather’s phone to get Jorge’s number and sending him his own WhatsApp messages.

**Unknown:** Hey Jorge, this is Eric. Heather’s Eric. Add me back.

After a several minutes of silence that could be interpreted several different ways, Jorge obliged, and he replied back…

**Lorenzo:** What’s up Pedrosa? Do you have her with you? Is she okay?

**E. Ped.:** Not precisely okay, but I have her, and I’m taking care of her. I just wanted to let you know in advance, since I know you’ll notice…she’s back on the painkillers. She told me she needed them to get through this test. I promised her she could have them if she lets me get her detoxed afterwards.

**Lorenzo:** Jesus Christ. Are you sure she should be on the painkillers? No wonder she rode so well on Monday…

**E. Ped.:** If it were up to me, she’d be off them. But I need to get her to trust me again, to let me in, and this is the only way to do it I’m afraid. There’s a lot going on there that I don’t think it’s my place to share with you, but the end result that I’m seeking here is that she leans on me more instead of internalizing everything. We’ll see if it happens.

**Lorenzo:** Good luck then, my friend. I’ll see you two when testing starts.

So far in the morning, Heather had been running well, though if her team noticed anything was off with her, it was that she was very quiet. She provided feedback and explained well what her bike was and wasn’t doing, but she didn’t offer up anything beyond that.

After one run in particular where she’d saved herself from a wreck, Eric rose from her chair (where he’d been sitting) and wrapped his arms around her, whispering into her hair, “I’m proud of you baby, you’re doing really well.”

Heather relaxed into him for the moment, before pushing back slightly, face slightly green and her telling Eric softly, “I don’t feel so hot…”

Getting the attention of her team, he pointed to her coloring, and indicated to them, “I think we need to head out…Casey, can you handle taking over testing?”

“Yeah mate. Take care of your girl, we’ve got things under control here.” Casey replied as he looked over Heather with some concern.

“Do you think you need to throw up?” Eric asked as she took on an increasingly greener tone, and she nodded, so he followed her out of the garage, watching as she moved remarkably quickly for someone with 2 broken bones in her foot. Soon enough they were in the bathroom and Heather was kneeling over a toilet, emptying the contents of her stomach as Eric hovered behind her, holding her hair out of her face and stroking her shoulders lightly. “Poor sweetie. Do you want to head to Clinica after this?”

After another heave – a dry one at that point – Heather nodded, resting her head back against Eric’s stomach and whispering to him, “I think I may have taken too many pills.”

Nodding a bit, Eric asked, “Are you done heaving?” And when Heather nodded, Eric scooped her up, pausing at the sink to get a paper towel to wipe her face clean and then carrying her off towards Clinica, quietly pulling aside the head doctor and explaining the entire situation to him – from the intentional taking of more pills than she needed to the throwing up to the suspected overdose. 

And while they weren’t situated to be able to pump her stomach or anything like that, they were able to provide Heather with an anti-vomiting patch for behind her ear, that would hopefully enable her to finish the session with no further issues. They also pumped her full of fluids, trying to flush her system of the excess painkillers.

“Do you think maybe you should take the afternoon off from testing, so that your stomach can recover?” Eric asked her as he stroked a hand through her hair, quietly watching her as she lay curled up on one of the Clinica beds.

Heather hesitated for a long moment before nodding, whispering to Eric, “Can we head back to my coach and just…lay there?”

“Of course baby.” Eric replied immediately, looking to the Clinica doctors to see if she was in a position to be moved. When he confirmed that she was, he scooped Heather up, cradling her close to his chest and bringing her back to the motorcoach, settling her on the bed and asking, “Do you want me to strip you and me both?”

“I need to brush my teeth.” Heather murmured as she shifted to get up off the bed, pausing a moment when her head spun a bit.

“You okay?”

“Just a little dizzy. Probably from all the throwing up. It’s not bad though, just wasn’t expecting it.” Heather replied as she climbed to her feet, looked around, and then nodded. “Yeah, it’s all good now. Just my body doing a little ‘fuck you’ to me. Y’know, the normal.” Eric snorted a little bit but let her leave to do her thing in the bathroom while he undressed and climbed into the bed, not trying to lay provocatively, but ending up doing so naturally. So when Heather returned, she stood in the doorway a moment and just stared in at him, telling him, “You need to stop being so fucking hot. It’s November, I don’t want to be turning the AC on to counter you.”

Eric laughed hard at that while Heather slowly undressed, as much to being careful with her foot as to tease Eric. When she came towards the bed, it too was unintentionally provocative, her hips swaying slightly side-to-side as she eased into the bed and curled up next to him. Fanning himself slightly, he told her, “You’re not the only one who’d need the AC, baby. Christ, you’re hot.” Heather blushed, but after a moment leaned closer to lightly kiss Eric, with him immediately reaching a hand to thread into her hair, holding her into the kiss.

As to be expected with two naked bodies in a bed, and lots of kissing and touching going on, both Heather and Eric found themselves extremely turned on and reached downward to help the other out. Skin on skin, face to face, foot to foot, Eric ran his thumb over Heather’s clit over and over again, nothing subtle about the touch, just trying to make her scream. Likewise, Heather’s grip on Eric’s cock was equally hard, no teasing, just stroking him harder and harder as their kisses got more and more messy.

It was Eric losing his mind first, calling out Heather’s name as she pulled him over the edge, and a moment later, as he stuck 2 fingers inside of her, she was tightening around them, screaming herself hoarse while her legs shook. Still, despite it all, neither broke the kissing, not even when Heather reached down to scoop some of Eric’s cum off her stomach and brought it up for both of them to taste.

Eventually, they were both completely breathless and leaning forehead to forehead, Eric asking Heather softly, “You okay with alla that?”

“Totally.” Heather replied, eyes half open and just gazing at Eric through them. “You okay with it?”

“Mmm, yeah. Because we weren’t using sex as a Band-Aid there…it just naturally happened and it wasn’t replacing a conversation or something. It was us, being us.” Nuzzling her cheek, Eric shifted them around until he was on his back and Heather was lying half on top of him before he continued, voice still soft, “Rest, baby. If you end up wanting to go back out, you can, but for now, just take advantage of this time while we have it.”

A smile curling over her lips, Heather just leaned closer and gave Eric another kiss, whispering her love to him.

~*~

Several hours had passed since Heather and Eric had gone off to her motorcoach and he nuzzled her gently as she slept, continuing to do so until her eyes drifted open and she was staring into his eyes. “Good afternoon, baby.” He told her softly. “Do you think you might want to go back out to the track, see if you feel up to testing? Or if all else fails, you can just put the boot on and limp around and they won’t make you test, I’m sure…”

“I should.” Heather said as she nuzzled Eric back, content in that moment just to lay there despite her words. “I’m not sure how much I can ride without many painkillers in my system, but I’m not sure I dare to try and take anymore today. I’m not really in a pukey mood.”

Giving Heather a kiss, Eric rolled to climb out of the bed, moving around to Heather’s side of the bed and offering her his hands, telling her, “Let’s get you back to your ready room, get you geared up, and see what happens.”

Nodding, Heather let Eric pull her to her feet, taking the moment to rest her head against his before giving him a soft kiss and then pulling away. Limping slightly, Heather went and grabbed her boot, sliding it on and then setting about getting re-dressed again. “I don’t think I’ll last long out there.” She said sadly. “Foot hurts too much as it is.”

“Do you want to soak your foot in the bucket of ice before we go out there, see if that’ll help?” Eric asked as he went about getting dressed himself.

“No, I just want to get out there, run as long as I can, and then come back here and cuddle with you. If that’s okay with you?” Heather said shyly, looking down at her feet for the moment.

“Of course that’s okay with me, baby. I love cuddling with you. I swear you were made straight out of my dreams, we fit perfectly together…”

Heather gave him a shy smile at that before reaching for Eric’s hand, swinging it slightly and murmuring, “Let’s head to my ready room, get me dressed up and see what they want me to do…” 

Nodding, Eric squeezed Heather’s hand and let her lead to exit the motorcoach, noting that she definitely was limping – and not faking it – and after a few moments of this asked her, “Do you want a piggy back ride to your ready room and then to your garage bay?”

Heather giggled slightly at that, telling Eric, “I’d feel silly doing it.”

“Silly or not, it would keep the pressure off that foot.” Eric retorted gently even as he squeezed her hand again.

“Let’s get to my ready room and see how I feel in my gear. If I’m still sore putting my boots on, then I’ll take you up on that offer, though I definitely will feel silly about it.” Heather responded as they walked the rest of the way to her ready room, stripping down once she was safely in the room and climbing into a fresh set of leathers.

She felt Eric’s eyes sweeping her up and down the entire time she was naked and getting dressed and she teased him shyly, “See something you like?”

“Oh yeah.” Eric responded immediately. “I see my beautiful baby…you look hot standing there naked, but you look just as hot in those leathers. I love looking at your curves.”

Heather blushed profusely at Eric’s words but leaned closer to give him a soft kiss, again for the moment losing herself into the kiss while Eric wrapped his arms around her hips and held her close. “Let’s go for that piggyback ride,” Heather eventually whispered against Eric’s lips and he nodded, kneeling down in front of her so that she could ‘climb on’. 

Smiling over his shoulder at her, Eric carried his love to her garage bay and sat her down in her chair, letting her team fuss over her. He knew things weren’t perfect between them, and they still had a way to go to fix things, but at least they were making big steps of progress.

~*~

Long after testing had ended for the day, Heather and Eric found themselves in Heather’s motorcoach, with Heather soaking her foot in a bucket of ice, while her head rested in Eric’s lap. “You did really good out there, baby.” Eric told her, impressed she’d managed to push – without additional pain killers – and gotten more testing completed.

Smiling up at Eric, she murmured, “Maybe I don’t need the painkiller as much as I thought.” And then biting on her lip lightly she paused before whispering, “If that’s the case, then I was an utter ass to you for no reason…”

“Shuuuuush baby. It’s okay. Well, it’s not, but we’re moving past it. You leaned on me today, let me help you instead of pushing me away. That’s a big deal.”

Taking a deep breath, Heather closed her eyes and just tried not to cry. Guilt overwhelmed her with knowing how she’d pushed Eric away in Valencia. But worse for her was she didn’t know how to stop, how she’d changed today, or how she’d need to change in the future. In her mind, things just worked out that she’d leaned on Eric today. Could she really be trusted to do so on a regular basis?

“Centimo for your thoughts,” Eric whispered to her and without even opening her eyes, she replied softly.

“My thoughts are worth more than a single centimo.” Her voice was choked a bit, but she tried to keep it steady. After several moments, she continued in the same soft voice, whispering, “I don’t know what I did differently today. I don’t know how to change it, I don’t know how to be better, to treat you better…”

“We be a team, like we were today. I asked you if you needed something, and you replied honestly. We need to keep doing that. And you should know that if you ask me something, I’ll reply honestly as well. No smoke and mirrors here.” Eric told her, as he ran his fingers through her hair, trying to reassure her they were okay.

“I’ll try.” Heather whispered.

“You already are, baby. I can tell even if you can’t. Today was a good day, even if you did get sick. You let me take care of you.” Eric responded, still stroking his fingers through her hair.

Cracking a bit of a smile, Heather just laid there, letting Eric comfort her.


	31. Thanksgiving

With testing complete in Jerez, Eric and Heather flew from Jerez to Madrid, and then Madrid onward to the States, reaching state-side approximately 10.5 hours after they left Jerez. As they were flying, Heather debated with Eric the merits of buying a car for stateside, so her Mother wouldn’t always have to pick them up at the airport when they arrived. That conversation ended up continuing until they landed, at 2:30 PM local time, or what their bodies was convinced was 8:30 PM.

“How often do you plan to be here is the big question.” Eric asked, and Heather shrugged a bit.

“That’s the million-dollar question. I just don’t know. There’ll be times when you’ll be modelling that I may want to be in Switzerland or here…can you handle that separation?” Heather inquired though her voice held no malice, just sincere questioning.

“As long as Sanyu is properly taken care of in our absence like she is with Yvette, then I’m okay with it. Mostly. I wish it was easier to travel with her, but I’m like you, adamant that she not be treated as cargo.”

Reaching over to give Eric’s hand a squeeze as she walked easily on her CAM boot, dragging along her wheeled carryon bag beside her, Heather finally spotted her mother and waved vigorously with their combined hands, making Eric giggle at her a little bit and her squeeze his hand tighter in response.

“Hi Momma,” Heather greeted her even with both hands, so throwing Eric’s arm around her neck as well as he giggled a bit more at her.

“You can let go of my hand, y’know. I won’t be offended.”

“I like holding your hand.” Heather replied smartly, as Eric just gave her an adoring look and then leaned forward to kiss her mother’s cheeks in greeting. “Thank you for picking us up again Momma.”

“My pleasure, sweetheart.” Her Mom replied, as she looked over the young lovers and just smiled at them before leading them out to the car park where her SUV was waiting for them.

The drive was a peaceful one, with Heather settling her head on Eric’s shoulder and just dozing off a little bit, the comfort of the situation one that led to her relaxation. Eric just left his hand on her knee, tracing patterns on her jeans and quietly watching over her as she slept.

When they finally reached Beverly, Eric easily scooped up Heather and brought her out of the SUV, telling her mother softly, “I’ll grab the bags later. Think it’s naptime for me and her.” And so he carried her into her apartment, Heather starting to shift awake about the time Eric deposited her on the bed. “Well hello sleeping beauty…did you have a good nap?”

“Mmm, I did. You make a fantastic pillow.” Heather replied with a soft yawn, looking Eric up and down and smiling.

“See something you like?” Eric all but purred at her, leaning over top of Heather to capture her lips, the kiss quickly going from gentle and intimate to hungry and full of teeth and tongue. “Mmm, you make me want you so bad, baby…” He whispered against her lips and Heather just blushed at him.

“I’m all yours,” She whispered, shifting a little to lay more provocatively. “I’m always yours.”

“What if I make you scream until your neighbors know my name and think I’m a God?” Eric growled against her lips, Heather almost immediately shivering in response.

“I think I’d like that.” Heather whispered, eyes darkening to jade and looking hungrily at Eric.

“Then let’s get you undressed.” Eric responded as he carefully stood her up to strip her tantalizingly slowly, pulling her shirt off and then leaning closer to suck at her pulse point, Heather’s hands reaching out for Eric’s shoulders to keep her steady on her feet as she offered him more neck. Easily, he removed her bra, and reached out a hand to cup a breast, thumb dragging over nipple as Heather continued to shiver at his touches.

“I love it when you touch me…” Heather whispered to Eric as she arched her back slightly as he continued to tease her breast. “You make me feel like I’m something special…”

“You are something special, baby. I’m lucky to have you.” Eric responded softly as he sucked at her pulse point, leaving behind a rather obvious hickey in his wake.

“I think that’s the other way around.” Heather retorted as she went to lift Eric’s shirt off. “I’m lucky to have you. You take care of me, look out for me, even when I’m trying to push you away and deal with shit on my own. How did I get so lucky to end up with you?”

Eric growled a bit rather than respond and tugged on her jeans, pulling her closer as he deftly worked the button and zipper with one hand, waiting until she’d stepped out of the jeans to palm her through her underwear, making Heather throw her head back and just moan softly.

“Pleassssse Eric.” Heather whined as she rubbed against Eric’s hand, eyes fluttering shut again as her breath quickened.

“Please Eric what?” He teased her as he kept rubbing her through her underwear, soaking the thin fabric in the process, asking her, “Do you want me to make you scream? To make sure your neighbors and your Momma know you’re all mine and that I love nothing more than to make you mindless? Is that what you want, baby?”

Shivering as much from his words as his touch, Heather nodded her head rapidly and Eric carefully lowered her to the bed, yanking down her underwear and moving between her legs. His thumb dragging over her clit, he lowered his face until he was able to attack her most sensitive parts with his mouth and tongue, tongue sliding inside of her like a tiny moist cock.

Soon enough he added first one finger then a second, rocking them in and out of Heather as she shivered and bucked against him, voice nothing more than a low whine of pleasure. “Errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiic.”

“What baby? Do you want me to do this?” And he slid a third finger inside of Heather, pumping them harder and faster as his tongue worked over her clit, feeling her start to shudder and lose her mind long before she screamed out his name. But if she thought that was all, she was in for a surprise, as Eric made no attempt to stop fucking her with his fingers, just instead lazily pumping her through the orgasm.

“Oh my God, Eric.” Heather whined and tried to close her spread legs, but he wouldn’t let her and continued to pump in and out of her, marauding her clit with his mouth while he did so. Despite her protestations it wasn’t too much longer before she was shuddering again, and this time Eric took a small amount of pity on her and pulled out – but only long enough to climb out of his own jeans and boxer briefs – and then he was pushing his hard member in as deeply as it would go.

“Oh fuck Eric!”

“Yes, please fuck Eric.” He growled against her ear, attacking her neck again and soothing the rapidly developing hickey with his tongue as his hips rolled against her. He knew it wouldn’t take very long for at least him to lose his mind after watching all of her sweet torture, but he was determined to take her with him. So, with a hand down between their bodies he rubbed hard at her clit, even as she turned her head to capture his mouth.

Kissing as furiously as they fucked, messy mouths mostly connecting, it was only another few moments before Heather pulled back and screamed out her release for the third time, her muscles tightening around Eric pulling him over as well with a howl from him. As he slowly pulled out of her, Heather immediately moved to roll into his arms, eyes drifting shut and an utterly sated smile on her face.

“Too much?” Eric asked as he stroked a finger along her cheek and she shivered a bit before answering.

“Never too much with you. Though I may not be able to walk straight again even with the boot, now!” And Heather laughed low against Eric’s ear, the smile never leaving her face.

“I think your neighbors and definitely your Momma know my name now.” Eric teased and Heather just laughed again, too blissed out to even remotely care.

She still didn’t always feel like she deserved this man but Lord was she happy that she had him!

~*~

It was finally Thanksgiving and the entire Johnson family – Alex and his girlfriend included, much to Heather’s chagrin – were gathered in the family home. Though Heather and her mother had done the vast majority of the cooking – with Heather’s mother still teasing her about how much ‘fun’ she’d had on arrival to town! – Teddy had proudly made the mashed potatoes on his own.

Alex’s contribution had been a store-bought apple pie – despite the fact that he’d been told that his mother was baking a home-made one. Heather figured they could send the store-bought one home with Teddy once Alex was gone – Teddy at least would nom through that in several days!

Finally, they were all sitting around the table, a large turkey in the middle and variety of sides like stuffing, Teddy’s potatoes, green beans, and biscuits among other things just waiting to be eaten. But first, Heather knew a prayer was coming and just whispered under her breath to Eric, “Bow your head.” She held one of his hands with her own, and the other with one of Teddy’s, looking up briefly to catch her Father’s eye briefly before he began.

“Lord God, I give you all the members of our family. You know them all so well and love them all. I ask that you would continue to guide them safely through this world, with faith, hope, and compassion. May our family live in you, underneath your promises. Amen.”

Squeezing Teddy’s hand briefly before letting go, Heather crossed herself and watched as her family did the same, Eric quickly catching on and doing likewise, though her brother caught that and snorted. Apparently so did Eric because he gazed at Alex and told him, “I **am** Catholic, jodido cabrón.”

Heather choked on her water when she heard what Eric called him and smacked him lightly on the leg, but didn’t stop grinning at him either. “So bad.” She whispered under her breath to him and he leaned over to kiss her cheek with a cat eating canary grin. She didn’t miss Alex staring at them like a hawk and she murmured in his direction, “Eat your food, Alexander.”

“Don’t tell me what to do.”

“Eat your food Alexander…you too Heather. This is supposed to be a pleasant family meal, please behave.” Their mother told them and Heather wisely kept quiet, though it was hard with Eric sitting next to her still having a shit-eating grin on his face.

Soon enough the food got distributed and Heather had a plateful of just about everything while Eric went with a more moderated approach and took turkey, potatoes and green beans alone. “Ask me if you’re not sure what anything is,” Heather whispered to him and he nodded.

“I’m good for now.” He murmured back and she smiled at him before digging into her plate.

But stopping after a moment and holding a hand out to Eric under the table and asking him, “Painkiller?” under her breath. He gave her a look, grabbed the bottle from his back pocket and distributed her a single pill which she tossed back with water, and then whispered to him, “Thank you, love.”

Eventually dessert was served, with everyone except for Alex avoiding his pie and going for the homemade variety, Eric speaking up to tell Heather’s mother, “Senora Johnson, this is very good. Thank you for making it.”

“Why thank you sweetheart. I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

Giggling a bit, and leaning her head on Eric’s shoulder, Heather added, “Given there’s not even a crumb left on his plate, I think you did good, Mom.” After dinner, the group moved out to the living room to resettle, except for Alex and his girlfriend who muttered something about having to go to her house for a later dinner, and they exited. “Don’t let the door hit you…” Heather mumbled as he left and Eric poked her in the ribs, even as they both giggled some more.

Besides the usual confrontation with Alex, it had been one of the more peaceful holidays Heather could remember. And she could credit that all to Eric.

He truly was the best thing that ever happened to her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> jodido cabrón - fucking asshole


	32. Rehab

After a few more days spent in the States, Eric and Heather returned to Geneva, having only a few days to spend together before Heather was due to head off to the detox center near Zurich. She was uncomfortable with the thought of the detox center, of losing her crutch once again, but she had promised Eric she’d do what he thought was best, and this was it.

They’d spent part of the time packing – and a portion of that time chasing Sanyu around, who was so happy to have her humans back that she kept grabbing things from the bag and running off with them! She seemed especially obsessed with underwear, having grabbed at Heather’s bras more times than she could count. But it did make things a little bit lighter, a little bit more fun, so neither Heather nor Eric were truly bothered by their pup’s behavior.

Heather was also due to have physical therapy while she was in detox – a fun challenge if ever there was one. The physical therapists were set to come to her detox center and work with her there, in between her behavioral therapies. Eric would be attending those behavioral therapy sessions via video chat, since he would be an important part of Heather getting better and staying better.

On the morning that Heather was supposed to be leaving for Zurich she remained tucked close to Eric’s side, not wanting to ‘get up’ and face the world, and face her own demons. But Eric woke up eventually too and though he snuggled and cuddled with her for a little bit, he ultimately encouraged her out of bed, heading to the kitchen to cook up her eggs while she made sure everything she was going to need was packed.

Eventually she ventured into their dining room dragging along a non-descript roller bag, in a boring t-shirt and jeans – nothing that would identify her as a MotoGP rider to anyone else who might see her! Sitting and eating while Eric watched her (and ate on his own), Heather sighed softly and gazed up at him, asking softly, “This really is the best idea, right?”

“Yes baby. We need you clean most importantly, but understanding your triggers is almost equally important. Like dealing with your brother.” Eric told her as he reached across the counter to drag his fingers along Heather’s cheek, her leaning into his touch momentarily before sighing and nodding.

“I know you’re right. About all of it. It just scares me. I’m also worried about it getting out what we’re doing here and MotoGP wanting to suspend me for doping or whatever.”

“I’ve checked, and the drug they’re most likely to put you on as a replacement therapy is allowed under the rule book, so long as you’ve got a doctor’s prescription. So, you’d be okay.” Eric informed her and Heather cracked a small smile in his direction.

“Still looking out for me, I see.” She murmured and he nodded.

“Always baby. I love you and want to make sure you’re safe and protected. Whatever it takes…” He opened his mouth as Heather fed him a piece of strawberry then licked the tips of her fingers, making both of their eyes darken before Eric shook his head. “Can’t be starting anything, hafta get you to the airport.”

Sighing, Heather agreed, moving off to brush her teeth and such before coming back for her bag, her CAM boot squeaking along the floor as she walked. She didn’t feel as though she needed the boot any longer, but she was going to wait for the physical therapists to decide that to be sure. Tossing Eric the keys to her car, she murmured at him, “Okay, we’re ready to go. Let’s hit the road.”

Grabbing Heather’s bag with one hand and her hand with the other, Eric led them out to her little Alfa Romeo, for the short drive to the airport, and her short flight to Zurich.

~*~

Checked into the detox center and set up in her private room, Heather was overwhelmed by loneliness, desperately missing Eric and Sanyu. Pulling out her phone, she texted him, telling him, “I miss you so much…”

“You’ll see me soon baby. Your first behavioral therapy is in a few mornings, and I’ll be there via video. And trust me, Sanyu and me miss you too. But this is for the best.” Eric’s text replied and Heather sighed, just staring at the phone for the longest time.

“They gave me a shot of methadone and took my pills from me. I’m just…uncomfortable…right now.”

“I can imagine, baby.” Eric’s text responded. “But it’s all for the best. And you’ll be home again soon, and will be better off than you are now.”

Sighing, Heather nodded at the phone, even knowing that Eric wouldn’t know she was doing it. “I love you.” She finally texted back before putting the phone aside, knowing that he would reply likewise at some point.

With nothing better to do, she dropped to the floor and started doing pushups, not really counting, and just continuing until her arms felt like jelly. When she reached that point, she did the same with crunches, keeping going until she felt like she could crush an almond with her abs.

Heather could have continued on with these types of activities by going to the on-site gym, but instead she crawled back into the bed, draping herself in blankets and curling up in the fetal position. New shot or not, she felt edgy without her pills, felt like this whole mess wasn’t fair. She wasn’t doing anything wrong, wasn’t hurting anyone, so why was she here?

She knew she could leave, knew she wasn’t required to stay…but she also knew how disappointed Eric would be with her, and she couldn’t handle doing that to him. Afterall, she was doing this whole thing for him, because she’d promised him.

“Are you sure it’s all for the best?” Heather texted Eric, after confirming that he had indeed texted that he loved her back. “You got me off the pills last time if that’s what you really want…”

“Yes I did, baby, but you were so on edge and not yourself that I know I can’t do that again. You need to be in a place that supports you, gets to the root of issues, and treats you. And as much as I miss you right now, I know you’re being taken care of…”

Heather sniffled reading his message, recognizing for perhaps the first time that being on these pills, and coming off of them before, had hurt someone. And not just anyone, but the one she loved more than anything in this world. With those thoughts in mind, she texted him back, telling him, “Okay. I won’t leave. I’ll stick it out until they get me clean. But I’m going to miss you hardcore during the process.”

“I’m only ever a text away, baby. And soon enough you’ll see me on video chats. We’ve got this, I promise you that.”

Putting her phone aside and clinging to that promise, to the knowledge of Eric’s unending love, Heather let herself drift off to sleep in the unfamiliar bed.

~*~

After 2 days in the detox center, Heather was quietly falling into a routine. A nurse would come in and administer the methadone shot in the morning, then give her breakfast. She’d work out by herself until a nurse came by to spend time with her, so far playing cribbage. The nurse would depart as Heather’s lunch came, and Heather found herself tired enough to nap after lunch and wake up at dinner time as that nurse knocked on her door.

But on this day, things were changing up a bit. Heather had both behavioral and physical therapy, with the former having invited Eric along as a ‘family’ session. Since the rest of her family wasn’t aware of her drug issues, she’d made no effort to include them. But Eric certainly was aware, and it certainly affected him, so he was there – and to Heather’s surprise, he was there in person.

“It’s only for the day,” he told her, as she squeezed him tightly in a hug, waiting until she’d calmed a little bit before he continued. “I can’t leave Sanyu with Yvette and my brother all the time, but I thought for your first session it would be good that I was actually by your side.”

Heather couldn’t help it – she cried into his shoulder, soaking his t-shirt and getting herself out of sorts again. It took Eric quietly comforting her for several minutes before she started pulling things together, and even then, she was sniffling afterwards.

“So Eric is important to you,” the behavioral therapist noticed and Eric answered rather than let Heather get sarcastic, grabbing her hand and giving it a squeeze.

“We love each other,” He said simply and he turned to look at Heather as she did the same. Resting his head against her forehead briefly, he stroked her hair, noting she calmed even more at his touch. “Coming to detox was her promise to me. Because I obviously failed on getting her off the drugs if she went back on them at the first opportunity she had presented…”

“You didn’t fail.” Heather said in surprise. “I just needed them to deal with everything.”

“Things you should have been leaning on me for. Things you should have trusted me to take care of for you. Things you should have even trusted your team with…” Sighing a bit, Heather looked up at Eric, into his eyes and could see tears starting to form, so she reached up to wipe them away. “It’s a lot, okay? I thought we had you better and I was wrong, so wrong…”

“So you feel responsible, Eric.”

“Partly, though I know from conversations with her that her relationship with her brother is a trigger. Tell the therapist about your relationship with Alex, baby.”

Wrinkling her nose a bit, Heather went into Alex’s perception of her life versus the reality, how she’d worked so hard to gain every little bit of an advantage and never once back down to a challenge. But that how he still believed everything she’d had, had been given to her. There was also the matter of how he handled Teddy – completely hands off – that upset Heather a great deal and she was angry by the time she approached that end of the conversation.

“Do you feel like you need a pill right now, Heather?”

Heather looked surprised at the question and then shook her head no, indicating, “He pisses me off, but not enough to want to get numb over.”

“So you use the pills to get numb.”

“Yeah, when the situation is too much for me to deal with, when…Eric’s right…I should be leaning on him more …I tended towards needing or wanting a pill to make sure I made it through. I also took pills in anticipation of pain that wasn’t there yet, like riding my bike in these last practice sessions. Did that too much one day though and OD’d a bit, found myself throwing up in the nearest commode before this one brought me to the traveling Doctor’s group and they gave me a patch for the nausea and pumped me full of fluids…”

“In hopes of washing her out of the pills.” Eric explained briefly.

“That worked. That and how we spent our time…” Heather cheeks rose to a rather spectacular pink as she continued, “definitely calmed me down a lot, reached me on a level I don’t seem to be able to find on my own. When I went back out on the bike later, it was with minimal pills in my system and I was okay. Not great, but I performed as I needed to.”

“Sex?” The doctor questioned straight-faced. “Sex release plenty of endorphins to improve your mood, etc. So it can be a great act for treatment.”

Trying to stay straight-faced but failing, Eric teased, “I think she’s telling me to have my wicked ways with you, baby.”

“Not at the moment.” The therapist laughed as did Eric and Heather, though the latter still blushed. Changing tacts, she asked, “How do you feel about the methadone?”

“Well, I can feel it just barely numbing me, which is great in my mind, but at the same time, I’m sleepy as fuck. I can’t get through the day without a nap.”

“That’s a pretty common side effect, the lethargy. Let’s see if it lasts the entire time you’re in here. If not, we’ll keep you on the med, but if it does, we’ll wean you off.”

“That’s one I definitely can’t have and ride so yeah…let’s hope it wears off.”

“In the meanwhile, we’re done with you here today, and physical therapy isn’t due to come around until the afternoon so if you two want to release some endorphins...” The therapist teased, though Eric started to smirk.

“Shades are all down, people have to knock to enter...feeling adventurous, baby?”

Heather blushed profusely but caught Eric’s eyes, just barely giving him a nod. And when the Doctors finally left, and locked the door behind them, Heather and Eric quickly stripped and climbed into bed together, Eric’s hand finding her wet and waiting from all the conversational teasing. And so he slide in with no preamble, just wrapping his arms around her back and holding her to a kiss

He didn’t know if this act could solve all their woes, but who was he to reject a Doctor’s recommendation??


	33. Getting Home

After two weeks in the detox center near Zurich, Heather was finally flying home to Geneva, a better handle on why she used (or abused) the painkillers, and a prescription to methadone to ease her transition. She’d taken a later flight than she’d originally been scheduled for, without warning Eric, because she’d stopped to get a tattoo.

The tattoo quoted one of her favorite bible verses, especially these days, and even made a tiny reference to Eric. “And now these three remain: Faith, Hope, and Love, But the greatest of these is Love.” In the elaborate L, she’d had them make an E for him, and she hoped he’d like it and appreciate it.

So, when she finally arrived at the airport, Eric was waiting but looked confused, hugging and kissing her and reaching for her bag, when he noticed the bandage on her arm. “What did you do to yourself, baby?”

Grinning a bit, she reached for Eric’s free hand and gave it a squeeze, telling him, “I’ll show you when we get home.”

He looked at her and she simply wiggled her eyebrows at him, giving him a goofy little smile that had Eric raising his eyebrows in curiosity. After a moment though he just smiled, telling her, “I’m just happy to see you so relaxed, so happy.”

“I’m feeling better about things.” Heather replied, as they loaded up her bag in her car and she settled in the passenger seat. “You know as well as I do how much progress we made in behavioral, and physical therapy went well as well…” She paused for a moment, waiting until he was in the car to lean over and give him a light kiss. “I’m just…really happy right now.”

Eric grinned at that and took them off from the airport to their apartment, where Sanyu was jumping around and practically dancing when they walked in. “Hello puppy! Yes, we’re home. Yes, we missed you.” Eric all but sang at her as he petted and stroked her fluffy fur. Heather joined in the petting and flopped to the ground, letting Sanyu pounce her and lick her face as she laughed and laughed.

With Eric looking on happily, he waited until Heather sat back up again on their sectional and said, “Okay baby…show me what you did to yourself.”

Carefully edging the bandage off, Heather turned away from Eric until it was off completely and then turned back towards him with the fully exposed tattoo, asking shyly, “What do you think?”

She watched as his eyes scan the text, and he smiled at her, telling her, “I love that verse too.” Dragging his fingers near the edges but not on the tattoo, Eric asked her softly, “You did this for me?”

“I did.” Heather confirmed. “Do you see your E in there?”

Eric narrowed his eyes a little bit to examine the tattoo in more detail and finally found the E hidden in the extravagant L, smiling and nodding at Heather. “That’s amazing, baby. I can’t believe you did that. At least now I know why you were on a later flight!”

“I’m not sure my parents will approve when we see them in a few weeks for Christmas, but they also don’t approve of my using birth control. I can’t be the perfect little Catholic girl, which I’m surprised my brother has never needled me about, but then again he probably doesn’t know about the BC…”

“How do they feel about you dating a Spanish guy?” Eric wondered aloud.

“You’re Catholic.” Heather responded. “And you obviously are head over heels in love with me, and me you, so you approved in their eyes.” She shrugged after a moment, before adding, “At least as far as I can assume that is, I’ve never asked, and to be honest I don’t care. My love life is my business. They knew I wasn’t straight and never said anything negative about that so…who knows, honestly.”

“I think my parents might prefer that you were Spanish, but…they adore you. They made that clear in our visit there after your surgery. And the more you learn the language, the better.”

Eyes sparkling a bit, Heather teased him, “As long as I don’t go wandering around calling people jodido cabrón, I’ll be just fine. Well, maybe I can call Dani that, but only if he’s beating me on the track!”

Eric practically giggled at her words, and remembering the night and the conversation in which those words had originally ensued. “You’d give Ignacio a conniption if you started muttering that in Spanish interviews.”

“My Spanish isn’t good enough for interviews yet, thankfully. I can understand the questions being asked of the other riders, more or less, and I can somewhat explain myself, but I’m not reliable.”

Eric grinned at her and teased, “I could teach you more Spanish.”

Laughing hard, Heather retorted, “Teaching me ‘I want you to ride me like your bike’ would not be useful except anywhere in bed, love.”

“Soooooooo?” Eric teased and they both laughed before Heather came closer and gave Eric a soft kiss.

Things were going good for Heather, really good, and for the first time she could remember in a while, she was really happy. And she had Eric to thank for that.

~*~

Heather was hanging upside from the pull up bar they’d installed in their workout room when Yvette and Dani showed up, wearing nothing more than a sports bra and tiny boy shorts, her tattoo shiny against her otherwise pale skin. She knew her curves were on full display in this ensemble – what she hadn’t expected was the feeling of being checked out by both Dani and Yvette!

Yvette at least had the foresight to advance forward and look the tattoo over while otherwise looking Heather over, but Dani just stared until Eric poked him in the ribs and smirked, “Beautiful, ya? Should see her with that long red hair splayed over a white pillow, those eyes dark with lust…”

Dani blushed furiously at his words and mumbled to his brother, “I have girlfriend, you have a girlfriend, never the two shall mix! And I have to race against her, remember!”

Eric laughed long and hard at that and then went to the upside-down Heather and nipped at her ear, whispering against it, “See? Everyone thinks you’re sexy, baby. Now come down from there and tug on one of my shirts and we can get about working out…”

“I was working out.” Heather protested mildly, even as she shifted to flip herself down off the bar. After another few moments she was in one of Eric’s shirts, and she hugged it around herself to get a good inhale of his scent. Turning her attention to Yvette, she asked conspiratorially, “Don’t you love wearing their clothes?”

“I wouldn’t survive the flyaways without them.” The older lady confirmed and Heather gave her a knowing nod.

“It’s going to be weird being in all the races this year, not just racing as rewards or whatnot.” Heather replied.

“You deserve it.” Yvette assured her and Heather gave her a happy grin in return.

“I did my best.” Heather replied. “Even with some bumps and trip ups along the way. I wouldn’t be where I am right now without Eric, that’s for sure.”

“Hmm, did I hear my name?” Eric asked, coming up behind Heather and wrapping his arms around her waist, and dropping his chin on her shoulder. “Only good things you’re saying, I hope…”

“Always.” Heather said with a laugh even as Eric tickled her ribs playfully and she squirmed to try and escape his grasp. “I love you, you dork.”

“Dork? Dork?!? What?!?!” Eric huffed as he launched a full out tickle attack on Heather as she squealed, giggled, and swatted at him, trying to break away so that she could launch her own attack back.

Meanwhile, Dani and Yvette just stood back watching and chuckling, both of them content by watching the younger couple, happy to see them so at peace with where they were now. Eventually Eric stopped tickling, and Heather stopped giggling and just turned to curl up in his arms, a content little smile curling over her lips as she rested her head against his shoulder.

“You two are sickeningly adorable.” Dani told them and he got flipped off by both other parties, even though Heather started giggling again.

“We try.” She told him and just kept her head rested on Eric’s shoulder, telling Dani after a moment, “It’s your fault, y’know…you’re the one who introduced me to your sexy brother.”

“And I’m glad I did.” He retorted as Eric met his brother’s eyes and just beamed at him.

Even when Heather finally pulled away from Eric under the premise of working out, she still didn’t let go of his hand, a fact that didn’t go unnoticed by either Yvette or Dani.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tattoo -> https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/2d/b7/21/2db721c4904788d5c5132977b0c0431d.jpg


	34. Holidays

It was finally the holiday season and Heather and Eric had flown to New England again to spend time with Heather’s family for the Christmas holiday, with the intent of flying to Barcelona to spend Epiphany with Eric’s family. It was 10.5 worth of flying and layovers from Geneva to Boston, with the couple in business class as per usual. Heather was more mellow than Eric could ever recall seeing, with even the thought of facing her brother seemingly having no effect on her. 

They were met post-customs by Heather’s mother, picking them up from the airport as had become their norm. The trip back to Beverly was a quiet one, mostly occupied by Heather and Eric cuddling with each other in the back most seats of the SUV as her mother looked on in the rear-view mirror and smiled. Eventually they made it ‘home’, and headed straight to Heather’s apartment, where Heather encouraged Eric to unpack his bag while she did the same with hers.

Clearing out the bag also meant that Christmas presents started to pile up, and once Heather’s bag was empty, she turned to Eric and asked him, “Do you have presents to bring upstairs to the tree?”

“Just the one for you.” He replied as he indicated a small box. “You’ve got the presents for your parents and siblings.”

Nodding, Heather gathered up all the presents and said to Eric, “Let’s head upstairs then. Can drop these off, see if there’s anything Mom needs help with, and if not, then come back down here and nap for a bit before Mom goes to retrieve Teddy…”

“That sounds like a plan.” Eric told her as he grabbed for her free hand and squeezed it.

And so they headed out of her apartment and went to answer the main house, piling the presents under the tree and then heading to the kitchen, Heather coming up behind her mother and wrapping her arms around her, asking against her ear, “Anything we can help with? Cooking? Cleaning?”

But Heather’s mother shook her head, telling them both. “Not necessary sweetheart. Why don’t you two go take your nap.” And pausing, as her grin took on a decidedly teasing look, added, “Just remember, the neighbors and I already know Eric’s name, so there’s no need to make sure of that.” Both Eric and Heather blushed profusely at her mother’s words as her mother laughed and laughed, eventually telling them again, “Go. We’re good here.”

Scurrying out of the main house with Eric hot on her tail, Heather moaned mortified at Eric, “I can’t believe she said that!”

Still red himself, Eric nonetheless retorted, “I can believe it, she’s related to you, it’s where you get your quick wit and sharp tongue from!”

Giggling a bit at Eric as they let themselves back into her apartment and then locked up, Heather led Eric back to her bedroom, telling him, “I’m not up for the whole screaming routine, but I wouldn’t mind feeling you, if you were game…”

Eric’s eyes darkened at her words almost immediately, telling her, “You’ll never hear me tell you no to that.”

And so the two stripped, watching each other the entire while, Heather reaching out after a moment to drag her thumb over Eric’s abs when they were exposed, watching him shiver slightly as she did so. When he dragged his hand down her cheek, it was Heather’s turn to shiver, just leaning into his touch momentarily.

Turning her head to kiss at Eric’s palm, Heather whispered to him, “I love you.”

Shifting closer to scoop her up into his arms, Eric brought Heather to the bed and then laid beside her, cradling her face with both hands as he leaned in to kiss her gently, her shifting them slightly until he was able to slide inside of her, both of them sighing and shivering at the intimacy.

Arms wrapped around each other, they just slowly rocked against each other, in no rush to finish anything.

~*~

After arriving back home from the midnight mass at their local Catholic church, most of the family went straight to bed, including Teddy staying in his old bedroom at the family house. Alex didn’t spend the night but no one was really surprised by that. He and his girlfriend presumably went to stay at his house nearby.

Eric and Heather however didn’t immediately go to bed and just stood in the family room, staring at the lit-up tree and cuddling with each other, with Eric eventually asking, “Do you think maybe we should go downstairs and exchange presents now? Rather than in front of the family in the morning or whenever you do it?”

Tilting her head at Eric, she nodded after a moment, reaching to grab for his present and watching as he did the same with hers. Letting themselves quietly out of the main house – and being sure to lock up on their way out – they headed back to Heather’s apartment, heading to her bedroom to deal with presents.

“Since Christmas is a bigger holiday here than Epiphany, this is my ‘bigger’ present to you,” Heather explained. “This is the one that’s more sentimental, while the other is more practical.” Blushing a bit, she added, “It’s actually a bit hokey, but I hope you like it.”

“It’s from you, I’m sure I’ll love it.” Eric assured her as he handed her a small box. “This is my smaller present to you, the bigger I’ll give you in Spain.”

Looking at Eric holding his present and staring down at the box in her hand, she asked, “So do we do this at the same time, one of us go first, how do we want this to work?”

“Why don’t you go first?” Eric inquired as Heather continued to stare at the box in her hand, her hands starting to shake just a bit. “Hey, what’s got you so nervous?”

Looking up at Eric, Heather admitted softly, “I’m afraid you won’t like your presents, or think they’re silly or presumptuous or something. I’m afraid you’ll only like it because it’s from me, not because you actually like it…”

“Oh baby…why don’t I go first then so you don’t have anything to be nervous about?” And before she could protest or worry aloud or anything, Eric started to carefully pull the wrapping paper from his present, which he could tell by the shape was a jar. As he finished unwrapping it he noticed a charm necklace wrapped around the cover, but it was the jar itself that intrigued him. “Tell me about this?” He asked.

Taking a deep breath, Heather told him, “It’s an ‘I love you’ jar. There’s a scrap of paper with that on there for every day back to the day you asked me out. And I’ll keep adding them until the jar is full…”

Beaming at her, a true and sincere beam, Eric told Heather, “I love it, and I love that you thought of something so special. You’ve got to realize I’ll treasure this, because it’s a constant reminder of how long I’ve had you in my life like this…”

Blushing and ducking her head, Heather mumbled, “There’s also the necklace…”

And at her words, Eric gently unwound the necklace from the jar, holding the necklace in his hand, the medium sized and clearly custom 77 dangling from the masculine chain. “Ahhh...so you’ll always be physically close to my heart…” But his eyes were sparkling even more than the necklace would explain for and after a moment he told Heather, “Why don’t you unwrap your present.”

This time she did without hesitation, unveiling a small jewelers box. Lifting the cover of the box she found a leather wrap bracelet with several charms on it – including a smaller but identical 77 charm, as well as a motorcycle, a bicycle, and a small dog. Looking up at Eric with eyes dancing, she murmured at him, “Well now I know why the jeweler was so comfortable making that charm necklace for you…he’d already had practice making the charm for the bracelet!” And giving Eric a shy smile, she asked him, “Will you put it on me, love?”

Holding her wrist out and handing him the bracelet, Eric easily slide the bracelet on her wrist and secured it, looking at it and then her and whispering, “Beautiful. Looks perfect on you.”

Still blushing a bit, Heather ducked her head shyly and told him, “I don’t think I’ll be able to wear it when I ride, but every other time is free game.”

“Mmm. I love you baby. Thank you for your presents…” Eric told her, leaning to give her a kiss as she just melted against him.

The day was only just beginning and Heather was already happier than she thought possible. She couldn’t wait for whatever the rest of the day held!

~*~

There was nothing quite like waking up for Heather and feeling the weight of Eric’s charm bracelet on her skin, and seeing her 77-charm gleaming against his tanned skin. Quietly, she traced her fingertips over the number on his chest, purring quietly when his instinctual response was to pull her in closer and hold her against him.

Eventually her gentle touches woke him up and he drew open his eyes to gaze at her silently, leaning in to kiss her passionately, with tongues sweeping through each other’s mouths. Heather ended up with her forehead leaning against Eric’s and whispering to him, “Good morning, my love.”

Giving her a lazy smile back in return, Eric responded, “Good morning, baby…did you sleep well?”

Heather nodded, her fingertips still drawing over the charm hanging from his neck and he shivered slightly as she told him, “I always sleep good when I’m in your arms.” Hearing footsteps moving around the kitchen above them, she added on, “We should get dressed and head on upstairs. Mom’ll be making cinnamon rolls and wassail.”

“What’s wassail?”

“It’s orange juice and apple cider and cinnamon sticks and it’s slow cooked on the stove and it just makes the entire house smell good. And it tastes good too…” Heather answered as Eric slowly unwound himself from her arms, edging back to slide out of the bed so he could get dressed. But as he did, Heather wolf-whistled at him, causing Eric to look over his shoulder at her and just blush.

Laughing softly, Heather climbed from the bed herself, throwing on jeans and a t-shirt, turning back to find Eric sliding socks on. “I’m good to go.” He told her as he extended a hand out in her direction. Grabbing it, they went out of her apartment and to the main house, finding Teddy wandering around still in his pajamas, footie pajamas that zipped up to his neck.

“Good morning sweetie.” Heather greeted her brother, giving him a soft kiss and a hug before settling back in close to Eric again as Teddy smiled at her.

“I helped with the wassail.” Teddy told her and she grinned at him. “May make it myself for New Year’s.”

“That’s a great idea…you could use your crock pot for that, I bet!” As they spoke, the front door opened and closed, and Alex and his girlfriend came wandering in, Alex with a palette from Dunkin’ Donuts and his girlfriend carrying a Box of Joe. Raising her eyebrows at her eldest brother, she murmured, “So much for tradition, eh?” 

But she went for the box as he put it down, finding her favorite donut within the mix and grabbing it, and he promptly called her on it, “Yet you still go for them and I’d bet you already have a cinnamon roll. You should be more gracious.”

Heather muttered under her breath at him, something that sounded distinctly like “cabrón," which had Eric smacking her lightly and telling her to behave. Taking her donut and a mug of wassail, she went out to the living room, settling on one of the love seats and waiting for Eric to plop beside her. Once he did, she curled up on his shoulder and smiled, the incident with her brother already forgotten.

Soon enough, the rest of her family wandered out, with Teddy flopping on the floor in front of Eric and Heather, leaning his head back on her legs. Handing Eric her wassail, Heather reached down and ran her fingers through Teddy’s hair as he leaned further back to smile up at her, his own wassail cradled in his hands.

As Heather and Eric watched, the rest of her family opened up presents for each other – there were new clothes for Teddy and Alex both, and even eventually for Heather once she started opening presents from her parents. “Ah, new jeans. Can’t get good jeans over the pond without spending a small fortune.” Heather told her parents gratefully, setting the clothes over in a pile beside Eric, who giggled when one of the packages she got contained underwear.

Eventually, the rest of the family reached Heather’s presents to them – gift cards to Wal-Mart for $500 and $250 respectively for her parents and Teddy, and a $100 gift card for a fancy restaurant in Boston along with a $150 gift cart for Men’s Warehouse for Alex. And much like he’d given Heather shit for earlier, he had to start in on her again, telling her, “Show off.”

“Why, because I provided for my family?” She retorted quietly, one now free hand starting to squeeze Eric’s. “I could have made those gift cards 10 times the amount they are. **That** would have been showing off…” Squeezing Eric’s hand again, she threw Alex’s words back in his face. “You should be more gracious.”

“Such a bitch…” Alex started before their Mother yelled out an ‘Alexander’ at him. “It’s true. You’ve always got to go and show off, and be the perfect little daughter and I’m just so sick of it…”

“Trust me, that feeling is mutual. I’m sick of your ungrateful ass coming in here and not doing a thing to help with your brother or your parents, or anything else that might need doing or fixing. It’s all on me, and I’m an ocean away. I mean seriously, what’s wrong with you?”

Alex snorted at her, retorting, “You try spending your life listening to how perfect your little sister is when you’re out there busting your ass to be the best you can be…”

“Funny, I feel the same way. I’ve been competing with your achievements all my life, just trying to be good enough.” And Heather squeezed Eric’s hand tightly, as he pulled her in a little closer, trying to calm her down some. “I’ve followed in your footsteps and never gotten a word of praise from you. Do you know what that’s like?” And Alex stared at her for the longest time before he simply just decided not to say a word and Heather sighed, shifting around and practically curling up on top of Eric, a few tears in her eyes. Putting her cup of wassail aside, she reached down and threaded her fingers in Teddy’s hair, telling him, “Go open that small box sweetie.”

As Teddy opened the box, Heather closed her eyes, feeling Eric leaning over to kiss her gently. After a moment, she heard Teddy exclaim, “Ooooh, a new cross!! How did you know I lost my other one??”

Just smiling and drawing her eyes open again, Heather told Teddy simply, “A sister knows these things. Is it okay? Do you like it?”

“I love it! And I like that it’s got a cord instead of chain. Thank you, Heather.”

“You’re welcome, sweet boy.” Heather replied as she just gazed in Alex’s direction, finding he was refusing to meet her eyes.

Sighing softly, Heather closed her eyes again. She couldn’t wait to spend New Year’s and Epiphany in Spain with Eric and the rest of the Pedrosa clan.

~*~

With New Years spent in Barcelona - a night of partying, dancing, and fireworks with Dani and Yvette – Heather and Eric had moved onto the upcoming Epiphany, and spending time with Eric’s family and Sanyu, the latter of whom Dani and Yvette had brought with them from Geneva. It had been a good time thus far, and for Heather, a welcome respite from home and her brother.

Like everyone else who encountered the pup, Eric’s parents had fallen in love with Sanyu, and were lavishing the pup with attention, to the extent that Heather felt the pup was more loved than she was! Not that she seriously thought that, but Sanyu certainly had the run of the house (and the yard) and was very much enjoying her adventures in Sabadell.

When the morning of Epiphany arrived, Eric and Heather stayed in Eric’s childhood bedroom, just cuddling with Sanyu at their feet. They had their presents in their still partially unpacked bags, and intended to get to them, just…the wanted to cuddle more first. But, cuddling didn’t last long because once Sanyu woke up, she went immediately to the bedroom door, whining softly to be let out, no doubt needing to bathroom.

And so the couple rose, putting on clothes and letting the dog out, heading all the way out to the backyard to let her do her business, while they cuddled close to each other watching her. “Do we open presents with your family, or privately?” Heather asked Eric, curled against his shoulder and just watching Sanyu search the yard for the perfect spot to do her duty.

“We can do it privately.” Eric responded as he turned to kiss her cheek, finally whistling for the dog once she was done. Heather went out with the plastic bag to grab the deposit, and then both returned back inside, greeting his parents as they dropped the bag off in the trashcan.

Nodding, Heather followed Eric when he led them all back upstairs – Sanyu bouncing ahead of them and waiting at the door for them, much to their amusement – and then both were burrowing through their bags, searching for the other’s present.

Handing Eric the larger box, Heather was only mildly surprised to receive another small box in return, with Eric reminding her, “This is the one that I view to be the bigger one, the more important one.”

Reminding him in turn, Heather advised, “Whereas yours is the more…functional…present. You got sentimental from me at Christmas.” With both nodding at each other, Heather went to unwrap her box, noting the jeweler’s name again and raising an eyebrow at Eric before she opened the box and gasped softly. “Ohhhh Eric. It’s beautiful…”

He’d given her a thin jeweled cross necklace – one thin enough to be worn beneath her leathers – with her emerald birthstones in prominent positions, and filled in with small diamonds in between. Leaning closer to Eric, she silently handed him the necklace and then moved her hair out of the way, letting him put it on her. Running her fingers over the smooth stones she just smiled and smiled, leaving Eric to question, to make sure, “You like it?”

“No.” She replied immediately as his face fell slightly. “I **Love** it. Nearly as much as I love you. But I don’t think anything can top that. And she leaned closer to kiss him softly, tongues sweeping around each other’s mouths slightly before they pulled back and Heather told him, “You’re amazing, love.”

“I try, baby, I try…” He told her as he began to unwrap his own present, eyes widening at seeing the familiar Apple logo on the outer box. “What did you get me?” Eric questioned as he opened the outer box, finally reaching in and pulling out a brand-new iPad. “Ooooh…how did you know mine was on its last legs?”

Smirking at him slightly, Heather told him simply, “A girl knows these things.” Then she paused before teasing, “I also know you need more boxer briefs, but I figured your Momma probably has that covered.” Eric laughed but blushed, even as he turned on the iPad and started fiddling with it, smiling over at Heather as she chuckled at him. “I knew you’d play with it, too.”

Grinning at her, Eric slid over and wrapped his arm around her, then used the camera to snap a picture of the two of them, posting up the picture on Instagram.

_ericpedrosa_ : Me and my baby. #loveher #beautiful #epiphany #bestdayever

With Eric fiddling, Heather just watched him, content that she’d made him so content. They made a good pair, and she was glad she had him in her life.


	35. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for those who've read this story. It's been an interesting journey. I had hoped for more interest in a unique story line but I guess I asked for too much. I don't think there'll be a sequel to this one, so please enjoy the ending.

It had been a long season for Heather, one she was glad was soon to be over. They’d arrived at Valencia with her solidly in 3rd place in the points – and no chance of her achieving 2nd or falling to 4th. The season had found the practically-a-rookie finishing on the top step of the podium several times – and also crashing out of some races in an absolutely spectacular manner. Jorge had sealed up the championship in Japan, for which Heather was proud of her teammate, but she wished she’d been able to compete with him more.

Adding to her weekend consternation was that Eric seemed to be in his own little world. Not necessarily aloof, but definitely…off. And Heather couldn’t put her finger on why, either. They had Sanyu with them in the coach, and normally that would make Eric playful and loving to them both, but he’d mostly been quiet. Not that Heather could worry about it too much – she had a race to worry about instead!

She swore she caught Eric chatting with her team when she was coming in during the early weekends practice sessions, but all conversation seemed to cease as soon as she arrived, or at least switched over to her discussing her bike with the team. It all just seemed very odd, and under different circumstances, Heather might have even been concerned by it all.

Instead, Heather was 100% focused on her bike, on her qualifying position (3rd) and on trying to have the season end on a good note. As had become their norm, a half-naked Eric served as her brolly, but he didn’t try going for a kiss as he usually would, which again caused Heather momentary distraction, and not of the good kind.

Shaking it off when Eric and the others exited the track, Heather locked in on her bike, focusing entirely on the race in front of her – the race she’d missed the previous season due to injury. This time, this season, however, she took the hole shot on the start, jumping briefly into 1st place before Jorge got in front of her and she tucked in on his tail.

Marc was nipping at her heels, with Dani right behind him, and Heather was determined to keep the Ducati train in front of the Honda one, blocking Marc at every opportunity and hugging the corners tightly so he couldn’t dive bomb her. And so it went like this for most of the race, with Jorge stretching out his lead, and Heather trying to stay somewhat with him, all while keeping Marc behind her.

Eventually, Marc made a mistake and veered off track slightly, enough of a whoops that Heather was able to pull decently away from him and just focus on tracking down Jorge, even if that seemed to be mission impossible for any hopes of the win. Still, she pushed, focusing on hitting her marks and the red dot in front of her.

But by the time the race ended, it was the Champion wrapping up his season in style with Heather finishing a strong 2nd, one that saw her popping wheelies and waving to the crowd to celebrate. Eventually she pulled into parc ferme and after handing over her helmet to her race engineer – and getting handed her watch and 2nd place hat – she took a flying leap over the barrier and into her team’s arms, where they threw her repeatedly in the air before placing her on the ground on that side of the barrier, much to her surprise.

In another moment, they all backed away until it was just Eric in front of her, a nervous smile on his face until he was suddenly dropping to one knee in front of her and Heather’s palm immediately went to her gaped mouth. “Heather baby, I love you so much and want to spend the rest of my life with you…will you do me the honor of being my wife?”

Tears immediately steaming down Heather’s face, she nodded her head and Eric put the diamond and emerald ring on her finger, both of their hands shaking until he leaned in and captured her lips with his own, Heather wrapping her arms around Eric’s shoulders and just holding on tight, oblivious to the cameras catching their actions and broadcasting them to the world.

Eventually, at Ignacio’s pleading, she ended up back on the ‘right’ side of the barrier, and did her interviews with MotoGP and BT Sports and all the other stations who wished to talk to her, but she kept having to wipe at her eyes and couldn’t stop grinning.

All too soon she was following Jorge and Marc up to the podium for that celebration, with both boys spraying the hell out of her with Cava before their bottles clinked and they all took a long sip from the bubbly. 

When she went through the media run before the post-race press conference, it was the ring, and not her finish, that was the topic of conversation with all the press, and Heather only wished she had Eric with her to answer questions. 

Because she didn’t know what he had planned and for when – she just knew that the end result was that she was ending up with him on a permanent basis.

Could life get any better? She was certain she’d find out in the next several months!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the ring - http://714018b4637355c66bfe-896976b2622ee8e9164af2ca41565389.r13.cf2.rackcdn.com/white-gold-round-white-diamond-engagement-wedding-ring-green-emerald-in-pave-set-FD121997RORGEMGR-NL-WG.jpg


End file.
